Early fixed blade knives.

nickpp · Jul 17, 2010

I have an interest in and a small collection of early South African made CRK's. Curious if there are any others out there. I've barely even seen any others (excluding the one piece range) but I know from an early catalogue there were quite a few different models available. Did Chris do a few customs too?

Backpacker

Bird and Fish

One of a pair of Skinners

This is a pic (courtesy of G2) from that catalog.

Thanks in advance for any info or knowledge,

Nick

nyefmaker · Jul 17, 2010

I have seen pics of these over the years, but never inquired about them. The backpacker and skinners look really sweet. Thats certainly a very nice and valuable collection you have there. Your pics are amazing too by the way !!! My experience is mainly with the OPR and folders and such. You could try PMing "Westlin", he is an expert with fixed blade CRK and might have the info your looking for. He helped me alot when I was looking for a Jereboam 9" sawback.

KTMADV · Jul 17, 2010

WOW!! That is a beautiful set of knives you got there.:thumbup:

nickpp · Jul 18, 2010

nyefmaker said:
I have seen pics of these over the years, but never inquired about them. The backpacker and skinners look really sweet. Thats certainly a very nice and valuable collection you have there. Your pics are amazing too by the way !!! My experience is mainly with the OPR and folders and such. You could try PMing "Westlin", he is an expert with fixed blade CRK and might have the info your looking for. He helped me alot when I was looking for a Jereboam 9" sawback.

Thank you for your interest and reply. I'll pm Westllen shortly.

Regards,

Nick

IamMatt · Jul 20, 2010

That is a beautiful and unique collection you have. Chris' customs are like rare gems, seldom seen and rarely available. One day I hope to have a Reeve custom or two.

nickpp · Dec 11, 2010

Still curious! Anyone got any early knives, pictures or info?

Nick

crackerjax · Dec 11, 2010

I have some mid eightys one piece knives but the rarest things I have from south africa are Angus Arbuckle knives. Nice colection. I must scrape my jaw off the floor now.

nickpp · Dec 22, 2012

Bit of an update on this old thread..........
I've recently tracked down a couple more of these rare early knives, better pictures to follow.

Model called "Dana" #2 made about 89/90. ATS34 stainless steel blade, Pecan wood scales just under 8" OAL

A larger variant of the Dana model. #5. Same era, again ATS34. Wonderful Thuya burl scales. 9" OAL. ( I love Thuya burl, the patterns always reminds me of animal paw prints and tracks......)

Nick

hope1967 · Dec 22, 2012

Sir
Can you contact me?
My Email is: hope196703@hotmail.com
Thanks
Hope

lisantica · Dec 22, 2012

Love those nickpp, thank you for posting the pictures.

nickpp · Dec 22, 2012

hope1967 said:
Sir
Can you contact me?
My Email is: hope196703@hotmail.com
Thanks
Hope

Hi Hope. Email sent as requested......

Nick

lisantica said:
Love those nickpp, thank you for posting the pictures.

Thanks Lisa. On average it take 3 years to find these, although I've been lucky and got more than one knife at a time. I'm sure you know that childish delight when you finally receive a new knife after such a long endeavour!

Nick

HistoricalMan · Dec 23, 2012

Ah, if I'm not mistaken those two are the ones from a certain dealer in Virginia. They were there for a couple of months taunting me but I was able to resist. I'm glad they found a new home with someone who will obviously appreciate them.

The larger Dana is especially handsome and looks incredibly comfortable. I'm assuming they both feel great in the hand?

jwolf90 · Dec 23, 2012

Great pics and Knives:thumbup: I've sen your collection in the past and it amazes me! I love all of Chris' early work, its really great to see. Thanks for making me drool on my keyboard, and I'm not kidding

nickpp · Dec 23, 2012

HistoricalMan said:
Ah, if I'm not mistaken those two are the ones from a certain dealer in Virginia. They were there for a couple of months taunting me but I was able to resist. I'm glad they found a new home with someone who will obviously appreciate them.

The larger Dana is especially handsome and looks incredibly comfortable. I'm assuming they both feel great in the hand?

I missed them when they were for sale at Nordic but they reappeared at New Graham unfortunately with a hefty uplift........
The larger knife looks and feels absolutely spot on!

jwolf90 said:
Great pics and Knives:thumbup: I've sen your collection in the past and it amazes me! I love all of Chris' early work, its really great to see. Thanks for making me drool on my keyboard, and I'm not kidding

Thanks, appreciate the comment!

Nick

nickpp · Dec 23, 2012

Thought I might as well show a few pics of the OPK's........
#87 Aviator.#135 Shadow 111. #392 Mountaineer 1. #41 Sable 111.

Nick

MVG · Dec 23, 2012

Some beautiful knives in this thread!

My only OPK from CRK.

2001 5.5" Nkonka Prototype

nickpp · Dec 23, 2012

MVG said:
Some beautiful knives in this thread!

My only OPK from CRK.

2001 5.5" Nkonka Prototype

Wow!! That's fantastic! Is it a stainless steel of just a bight silver Kalgard? Thanks for posting.

Nick

MVG · Dec 23, 2012

nickpp said:
Wow!! That's fantastic! Is it a stainless steel of just a bight silver Kalgard? Thanks for posting.

Nick

Thanks...it is made of A2 steel with a coating. The photo makes it look a bit lighter.