Custom 6OT by Dale R. Vincent (Mammoth Ivory and Water-Buffalo Horn)

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

Here's my first custom done by Dale Vincent (orvet). It's a water-buffalo horn and mammoth ivory re-handled 6OT.

The highly polished buffalo horn is an exceptionally beautiful handle material! So many different shades to the grain in black to brown to pure white. It is as smooth as glass but the complicated grain makes it appear almost textured in scans.

I think anything made from mammoth ivory is very cool too. It makes sense in that the mammoth involved died long ago and elephants need to be left alone these days but I still find it kind of weird that it's easier to get your hands on ivory from an extinct species than from one still in existence.

I think this one is going on my belt as my new EDC and anything this baby opens, slices up or carves should feel privileged.

 

[delmas2nd]

very very beautiful and yes indeed it the cuttee) should feel lucky! without a doubt the best looking 6 OT i have even seen!

 

[howieareyu]

Dale - Fantastic Job on this one!! :thumbup:
I think this in an underused but very appealing handle material.

Dave - Congratulations and Thank You for sharing it with us.
I always appreciate the extra pics and different angles.
You really showed off Dale's work.

I've never physically held a knife handled in this material.
Does it have a rough surface? Can you feel the the grain?
Or is it polished smooth yet the grain shows thru?

Indeed quite an irony with Mammoth ivory vs. Elephant.

Do you have any plans for displaying this beauty?

-- Howie

 

[DaveT63]

Nice grab, Dave! Dale does some great work! Do you know if this is recent work of his? I know he was pretty much on a sabbatical for a bit taking care of his parents. If he is back at work, I need to contact him about a knife I want some work done on. But again, nice snag!

Dave

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

I've never physically held a knife handled in this material.
Does it have a rough surface? Can you feel the the grain?
Or is it polished smooth yet the grain shows thru?

Indeed quite an irony with Mammoth ivory vs. Elephant.

Do you have any plans for displaying this beauty?

-- Howie

I keep thinking now that I'm in my forties I deserve something fancier than Wondawood or delrin or whatever it is on a S.A.K. for my user knives but I just can't bring myself to scratch up a pristine beauty when I already have lots of good knives already "in service". They really do last a life-time so a rotation becomes almost necessary.

I added this one to my "Hall of Fame" row of LB7-type lockbacks and it adds so much that I've decided to hold off on using it and it will likely stay pristine after all. It begs a nice fob of some sort.

Thinking about the fob was kinda what changed my mind. This knife will look complete with the right one but practically I do not want one on my belt-knife. To me it would just hang there and look pretty with no purpose in my day-to-day applications.

A lanyard is the other actually useful 6OT possibility but it's overkill and totally unnecessary if I'm just going to slice an apple or open a package. My conclusion was either tie on a lanyard and bring it into the bush as an all-purpose fish and bush knife or fob it and display. Display won out. "Quest For Fob": now filming in K-Town lol

As I mentioned above Howie, the horn handles are smooth as glass. Kinda like perfect delrin in feel but even smoother. Warm too.

I think the Sambar stag ban has fueled this switch in the industry because you really don't see a lot of vintage water-buffalo horn knives but I have done a bit of research and this horn is also exported heavily by India now. It seems when knife-makers supplies of good stag dried up mountains of water-buffalo horn took it's place as an upscale natural material.

Nice grab, Dave! Dale does some great work! Do you know if this is recent work of his? I know he was pretty much on a sabbatical for a bit taking care of his parents. If he is back at work, I need to contact him about a knife I want some work done on. But again, nice snag!

Dave

I'm not exactly sure when Dale did this one but it was a little while ago anyway. He has had to take a little while off right now while recovering from some hand surgery (he has this posted at his e-store so it's public and not a breach of trust) but he fully expects to be back customizing again sometime this fall.

I would like to have him customize some version of my "Dream Schrade" that never was. So far I'm thinking my Ace Hardware 60th with the fancy scrolled brass bolsters and big "Limited Edition" etch might be a good canvass. Add some really special handles and file-work and the result would be extra nice. A good blend of vintage Schrade factory work that wouldn't get overlooked or out-shined by the new ultra-embellishments. Fun to think about...

Thanks again Dale for doing what you do! I'm very pleased with this knife and look forward to having a true to-order Schrade done in the future when you are back customizing.

 

[orvet]

Thanks guys for your kind words, they are really most humbling.
I am glad that something that brings me so much pleasure (working on knives) also brings pleasure to those who own and view my work.

I have been unable to do much work for the better part of a year now. My hands have been breaking down and I have been awaiting surgery from the VA for nearly a year. I finally had the surgery on June 21st. I got most of the stitches out this week on the 7th but there are some complications and infection so I think I will be back to see the surgeon this coming week. I am hoping the complications I am having won’t delay my taking in new repairs beyond the end of this year. But at this point I cannot even make a fist with my right hand, so I don’t think I will be taking orders until the end of the year by the way it looks now.

As Dave T mentioned I had to take a month off in October last year to help my parents while Dad had a pacemaker put in & Mom got a new knee. They are both doing fine now.

BTW Dave, if you look inside the knife on the mark-side liner you should be able to see the year I made that knife. It should say DRV 10 for 2010. I actually started that knife in 2010, encountered a problem of some sort (probably a bunch of repairs) and set it aside. I think I finished it up just before the OKCA show this April. So it was really started in 2010 and finished in 2011, as I recall.

I am glad you enjoy the horn. It is really fun to work with and it takes a nice polish. I sanded the horn down to 8000 grit then polished it with a very fine grit rouge. Then I waxed it with hard carnauba wax. It gives the horn a chatoyance or depth that is almost like looking into water. That set of horn was the prettiest set I had. Dave took much better pictures of it than I did! Nice work Dave!

I will try and pop in and say a bit more often. Even though I haven’t working in he shop it seems I am always busy.

Thanks again for the kind words,
Dale

 

[lrv]

Dale,
I had been wondering where you'd gone off to. I knew you were backed up with repairs and custom requests but it has been a while since a posting. I do hope you get those hands back in shape real soon.
Drop a note when you have a few.
Larry

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

Thanks for adding the when and how details, Dale. I looked on the liner and it is blank (I looked really closely in bright light with flashlight too) so I’m glad I can date it.

It’s crappy that you are experiencing post-surgery complications. For what it’s worth I happen to have a strong opinion around how such things should be treated…

I have had to treat infections on gashes and 3rd degree burns to my hands and feet in the past. While anti-biotics have their uses I have found that an old-school technique works even better in a lot of cases and I saw the proof of this when I was in hospital myself a while back.

I will soak the wound in a bowl or basin of warm/hot water saturated with table-salt twice daily til I “prune up” or about 15 minutes at a time. I have used this on infected stitches after surgery, gashes in the field and burns. Just pour loads of salt into a bowl of water until it can’t dissolve any more and then soak in it.

When I was in hospital a fellow patient had a badly infected thumb and I watched as nurses and docs treated him ineffectually with topical and oral anti-biotics. After two weeks of this treatment his thumb was no better and no worse. I am sure if he soaked it in a brine solution the infection would have been all gone in a day or two but the nurses just looked confused when I suggested it and the gentleman wouldn’t try it. Too simple I guess.

I think it’s a great technique for infection. Ask your doc perhaps if he thinks this would hurt. It stings a bit but it works fast and goes deep into the wound. This is another good reason to carry lots of table salt with you when you are in the back-country. A small infected wound can be really painful and debilitating but soaking it salt water then applying Polysporin or other topical anti-biotic will knock out an infection super fast and get you home safely.

I’m no doc but there’s my field-proven two-cents.

 

[glennbad]

That's a beauty, Dale! Dave is lucky to have an Orvet original.

Sucks about your hands. Hopefully they will heal well. I feel it in my hands when trying to grip small parts for sanding, but at least I am able to work on projects.

It's frustrating to want to work on knives, but not be able to. Soon enough, you'll be back in the saddle.

Glenn

 

[howieareyu]

Hi Dale and Welcome Back!!
Best Wishes from the East Coast for a speedy recovery.

Just amazing material on this one - Congrats again Dave and Dale.

-- Howie