Don Hanson III Zulu slipjoint makeover

HTMD

HTMD

Joined
Feb 15, 2002
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It's not fair to call this a makeover but you'll understand after I recount what the collector/owner said when he asked me to shoot the knife. I hope Jon Brand will jump in with more info. It's his knife.

Don Hanson crafted this beautiful blade and applied matched fossil ivory scales that were fat, brown and nicely textured - perfection. Who could want more? Well, I don't think Jon wanted more exactly. But over time he began to see blue here and there under the brown. One thing lead to another and Don got the knife and removed what I think was a significant amount of brown bark on both sides. Turns out Jon was right. Don must've agreed because I doubt he'd agree to something like that if he thought it was not appropriate. Check it out!

orig.jpg
 
It would be nice to see a before and after shot. Jon, do you have any??

This looks real nice with indeed great looking ivory!!

Marcel
 
Wow. That is a beautiful folder. The Zulu pattern is one of my favorites, and with these materials... WOW!

Kind regards,

Jos
 
Those handles proclaim: 'Character'. Lovely.

Jon's a good egg, and has a discerning eye. How many proofs till you arrived at that one? ;)

I love you, Jon!

Coop
 
It would be interesting to see a "before" image which could possibly result in mixed opinions depending on who prefers browns or earth tones as opposed to blues. Personally, I like both.

I suppose makers typically try to achieve their desired handle shape without removing any more color from the ivory than necessary as opposed to venturing into the "unknown".

I don't know that there's any better than Don when it comes to examining a piece of raw dirty ivory and predicting what's beneath the often "ugly" surface.

In any case, it's hard to image that this folder could have ever looked better than it does now.
 
Great photo Buddy! Thanks both to you and Jon!

Not only did I take the natural bark off the ivory, I did a complete refurbish.

Jon has photos of the before ivory, he should be along shortly...
 
dannyp said:
Is it the same knife from this thread?
Click to expand...

That is the one for sure, and when I heard what Don was going to do, I thought, "Jon, what are you thinkin'!!". I love the original ivory, but now that it is done, and after seeing Buddy's great image, I can see what Jon was after. And it turned out super.

With the damascus blade, I like it. If the blade was not damascus, I would want to stick with Ivory #1. Isn't it nice to be able to make decisions after the fact? A neat study in mammoth ivory for sure.

Love your folder, Jon!

- Joe
 
canineforge said:
That is the one for sure, and when I heard what Don was going to do, I thought, "Jon, what are you thinkin'!!".

- Joe
Click to expand...

I would have had the same reaction. It is one of the knives posted here that really stands out in my memory. Turns out it was a great idea, and Don executed it wonderfully. It is interesting to see two different finishes on the same piece of mammoth, each of them beautiful in their own way.:cool:
 
Coop- Two drafts, and then the final image. You know I have issues.. =)

Here is the handle with more bark. Still was gorgeous. You can see a few spots on the blade here which are no longer.

DHZULU_zpsf4b92595.jpg
 
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Thanks for showing the original. Although we ooh and ahh at craggy mammoth, in this case, seeing the two side by side, the after results are SO much more refined.

Major props. It's really an improvement in my taste. :thumbup: Right on, Jon.

How old was this piece to need a rebuild? 100k miles....? :D

Coop
 
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