Forged, Upscale Chute Knife

Basically, I like the knife but the cracalure of the Mammoth would not be my first choice nor would the use of brass as a spacer. Any number of makers do make Chute knives and most will do a somewhat modified "Loveless" style.

Rob Brown does a very nice one and includes the holes in the guard which many makers don't.

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At the Blade 2008, WC Johnson did this Chute and while it is similar to both knives veiwed so far, it still has its own uniqueness and differences. Note the palm swells though in both Rob's and Bill's efforts.

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I have seen other efforts by other makers but many just don't follow a nice flow to the blade like can be seen in all these knives and Steve has built a very nice knife and quite possibly to the owners specifications which might not mean he would do the same thing again. Interestingly, the length and proportions of his and Bill's are almost identical and neither have the holes in the guard. My knives are still packed in the safe so I don't have the measurement of the Rob Brown Chute at the moment.
 
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Though the Loveless Archer Chute seems to be the hallmark of the industry, it should not IMO limit other maker's creativity in producing their own rendition of the chute.

Though I definitely like some chutes and chute design elements more than others, I do not judge a chute (or any other style knife) solely on how close it follows the Loveless design.
 
I appreciate all of the positive feedback on the knife as well as the lively discussion on the design aspects of the knife. Perhaps I should explain why I built the knife as shown.

The knife is a custom order from my best customer. The handle material was supplied by him. I would have preferred to put a slight palm swell in the handle, but was constrained by the loss of the bark texture in the ivory from doing so. The black, brass and stainless spacers are what the customer wanted. A couple of years ago, I built a small, inexpensive hunter using this spacer design. This customer bought the knife and liked the spacers very much. Since then, he has ordered several knives with this design element, choosing to make it a standard feature on many of the knives that I make for him. The spacers also required that the knife’s construction be hidden tang.

STeven, you are correct that the handle is slightly longer than a Loveless. My original drawing for this knife had the handle 1/8” shorter. I based this measurement off of a photo of a Loveless knife. After drawing out the design, I spoke to the customer by phone. He has in his possession two Lile Chute Knives. In comparing measurements, he found the Lile knives to be longer through the handle than I had planned in my drawing. The customer wanted to add as much as ¼” to the handle. I balked at that and talked him into adding just 1/8”.

You are also correct that the guard wings are thicker than a Loveless; and I came very close to thinning them further. But, I feared that thinning the guard would contribute to the long handle appearance of this knife…… Also, I know this customer likes substantial looking knives, so chose to leave them at this thickness. If he or any other buyer of this knife would like for the guard to be thinner, it would be very easy for me to grind some more material off; but I can’t put it back. The customer has seen a photo of the knife and is happy with it at this time. If he wants the guard changed once he gets it in hand, I will definitely do as he asks.

Thanks again to all for the comments. I appreciate all feedback; even negative, because it helps me to understand what people would like to see in the knives that I make.
 
now that's what making a CUSTOM knife is all about.
The customer is always;)right!
I think this is a very handsome looking knife. Nice work and kumbaya:thumbup:
 
Kevin Jones said:
Though I definitely like some chutes and chute design elements more than others, I do not judge a chute (or any other style knife) solely on how close it follows the Loveless design.
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I agree completely. In fact, as a matter of personal preference, I tend to gravitate toward chute knife designs that make a deliberate departure from the strict Loveless parameters. Not knocking the Loveless look by any stretch - it is a beautiful and iconic design - but I both welcome and support a little diversity within the genre.

And I definitely prefer a hidden tang to a full exposed tang.

Roger
 
sculver said:
......Perhaps I should explain why I built the knife as shown.

The knife is a custom order from my best customer. The handle material was supplied by him. I would have preferred to put a slight palm swell in the handle, but was constrained by the loss of the bark texture in the ivory from doing so. The black, brass and stainless spacers are what the customer wanted. A couple of years ago, I built a small, inexpensive hunter using this spacer design. This customer bought the knife and liked the spacers very much. Since then, he has ordered several knives with this design element, choosing to make it a standard feature on many of the knives that I make for him. The spacers also required that the knife’s construction be hidden tang.

STeven, you are correct that the handle is slightly longer than a Loveless. My original drawing for this knife had the handle 1/8” shorter. I based this measurement off of a photo of a Loveless knife. After drawing out the design, I spoke to the customer by phone. He has in his possession two Lile Chute Knives. In comparing measurements, he found the Lile knives to be longer through the handle than I had planned in my drawing. The customer wanted to add as much as ¼” to the handle. I balked at that and talked him into adding just 1/8”.

You are also correct that the guard wings are thicker than a Loveless; and I came very close to thinning them further. But, I feared that thinning the guard would contribute to the long handle appearance of this knife…… Also, I know this customer likes substantial looking knives, so chose to leave them at this thickness.

Thanks again to all for the comments. I appreciate all feedback; even negative, because it helps me to understand what people would like to see in the knives that I make.
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Mr. Culver,

Thanks for taking the time to respond as you have. Perhaps, for you, and other makers, explaining that the knife shown is made to specific requests by a CUSTOMER(even stating that it is a GOOD customer) would remove any ambiguity concerning feedback.

Had I known the above information, I would have presented my responses quite a bit differently.....many makers show new work in this manner with the hope of making a sale or getting more orders for that model.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Great response from Steve!

Look at that fellas, a maker with a calm and collected response! :)

And of course the expected follow up by STeven after seeing Steve's response. Just for you folks that still want to think STeven just pees on threads, rather than offer his thoughts as a way of bringing new perspective to a maker or collector (or simply saying what some think but won't say).

Again, I'm glad to see you posting your work here Steve, and hope you will continue to do so. Even though your thread didn't get all high fives at first, I can promise you that to have another Mastersmith added to the list of makers posting their work in here is a VERY WELCOME thing.
 
STeven,

Thank you for your return on my explanation of the knife’s design features. However, had I given you all of this information in the post with the picture, you would not have shared your true feelings for the knife; and that would have been my loss.

I am happy with how I posted the photo and the responses that it brought. It has afforded me an opportunity to learn; and I believe that is why we are all on this forum.

Nick,

Thanks for the kind words. I will post more pictures of my knives on the forum and I will always want to hear what folks think of the design and execution of the work.
 
sculver said:
STeven,

Thank you for your return on my explanation of the knife’s design features. However, had I given you all of this information in the post with the picture, you would not have shared your true feelings for the knife; and that would have been my loss.

.
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That is not true, Steve.

I would have couched it in less of a doctrinaire manner, and more of a "this is what I would have preferred to see if I ordered the knife or saw it at a show" type manner.

The information would have remained roughly the same...it would just have been presented in less of a "feather ruffling" manner.

Either way, thanks for contributing to the Forums...and welcome.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
I personally like the knife. I think the brass spacer accents the ivory. The thick guards seem as a reminder that this knife was for rough use.( Besides I'm an ivory whore). Also a lover of the combat knife.
I also found STevens response quite refreshing. It is good that a real honest critique can come forth , and be taken as constructive criticism.
This is what makes us better at what we do.
 
The information would have remained roughly the same...it would just have been presented in less of a "feather ruffling" manner.
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Awwwww, STeven. It’s pretty hard to ruffle this old bird’s feathers.

Anyway, I wouldn’t have felt right listing all of the reasons why I built the knife the way I did at the time that I posted the picture. I would feel like I was making excuses for the knife’s iniquities before anyone had the chance to call me on them.
 
Steve -- it sure makes a difference when one knows that a customer made certain selections as to how you were to do the knife which I expected to be the case. How the heck I combined the images I did in the originally posted photo is beyond me. I don't even drink so that excuse does not work. However thanks to those sharp eyed individuals who spotted the error, I have posted up another image that I had done at the time and just had not edited and it still shows the effects I wanted to present. I still think that as you have done, keeping with the basic blade shape is most important when doing a Chute knife.
 
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