- Joined
- Jan 30, 2002
- Messages
- 7,269
Four or five years ago, I made a practical hunter's knife for use here in Wisconsin; a general use blade, with some deliberate design functions for butchering the deer, which had recently been found to have Chronic Wasting Disease in the state herd. The DNR advised specific handling procedures.
I am no knife-maker, but used an Arcade file I'd found in a farmer's field, and aimed at a combination of Webster Marbles' woodcraft, a little bit of Grohman, and an over-all utility, based on an old man's experience as a meat hunter. My tools were a single disc grinding wheel, a fiber disc, and a lot of wet-dry paper. Raw materials were a bit of antler and an old spoon, together with JB weld.
It was about that time that Bill Martino, of Himalayan Imports was dying of cancer, and had opted out of the life-prolonging surgery. He said he would see if he could get the kamis in Nepal to make a version, but could offer no guarantees. So...the SARGE, practical hunter...was the last custom knife Bill himself sent through H.I.'s system. I was honored. SARGE was named for an H.I. regular.
Knife got made. Bill died. By my reckoning, about 150 were made in Nepal over the years. But...the kamis, in my opinion, don't quite "get" small knives. Took a while to get them to harden the entire edge of the SARGE blade, and the tangs were surprisingly small.
Still, folks seemed to like them enough. No great demand.
Andy Roy, of FiddlebackForge, developed his interest in making knives, in no small part because of the influence of a poster at H.I. Greg Sikes, or Sarge, was a knife-maker and career USAF man. He'd been to Astan and had been training men for deployment over there. He KNEW knives. He is a helluva guy.
I contacted Yangdu to make sure it was ok with her, got her enthusiastic approval, and then sent the original SARGE off to Andy. I offered the design prototype as a starting point for him to consider...adding a blade/knife design to his FIDDLEBACK FORGE line. I like Andy a bunch. More-over, I admire the developed skill and fastidious attention to detail that he invests in each and every blade that he allows to leave his shop.
He worked his magic. Here's a link of his first completed SARGE knife, some of the history, and feed-back from H.I. folks, and....sprung up out of the woodwork, Sarge, Himself !!!! The man who nurtured knife-making in Andy and others, and for whom the knife was named. Andy has artistry in his work.
Sorry for the long back-story, but...lot of folks' lives entwined in this knife, and Andy has done each and every one of them proud.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=664184
Kis
enjoy every sandwich
I am no knife-maker, but used an Arcade file I'd found in a farmer's field, and aimed at a combination of Webster Marbles' woodcraft, a little bit of Grohman, and an over-all utility, based on an old man's experience as a meat hunter. My tools were a single disc grinding wheel, a fiber disc, and a lot of wet-dry paper. Raw materials were a bit of antler and an old spoon, together with JB weld.
It was about that time that Bill Martino, of Himalayan Imports was dying of cancer, and had opted out of the life-prolonging surgery. He said he would see if he could get the kamis in Nepal to make a version, but could offer no guarantees. So...the SARGE, practical hunter...was the last custom knife Bill himself sent through H.I.'s system. I was honored. SARGE was named for an H.I. regular.
Knife got made. Bill died. By my reckoning, about 150 were made in Nepal over the years. But...the kamis, in my opinion, don't quite "get" small knives. Took a while to get them to harden the entire edge of the SARGE blade, and the tangs were surprisingly small.
Still, folks seemed to like them enough. No great demand.
Andy Roy, of FiddlebackForge, developed his interest in making knives, in no small part because of the influence of a poster at H.I. Greg Sikes, or Sarge, was a knife-maker and career USAF man. He'd been to Astan and had been training men for deployment over there. He KNEW knives. He is a helluva guy.
I contacted Yangdu to make sure it was ok with her, got her enthusiastic approval, and then sent the original SARGE off to Andy. I offered the design prototype as a starting point for him to consider...adding a blade/knife design to his FIDDLEBACK FORGE line. I like Andy a bunch. More-over, I admire the developed skill and fastidious attention to detail that he invests in each and every blade that he allows to leave his shop.
He worked his magic. Here's a link of his first completed SARGE knife, some of the history, and feed-back from H.I. folks, and....sprung up out of the woodwork, Sarge, Himself !!!! The man who nurtured knife-making in Andy and others, and for whom the knife was named. Andy has artistry in his work.
Sorry for the long back-story, but...lot of folks' lives entwined in this knife, and Andy has done each and every one of them proud.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=664184
Kis
enjoy every sandwich
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