Found my long lost Beretta Loveless with the help of my tractor- New Pix!

elkins45

elkins45

Joined
Jun 17, 2006
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EDIT: new pictures added in a separate post.

My Beretta Loveless Hunter disappeared off the tailgate of my truck overnight during the deer season back in either 2006 or 2007. It had been used that evening to dress and skin a deer, so it was covered in blood, fat and hair. Since the sheath was still there I assumed one of the neighborhood dogs grabbed it and ran off with it. I walked the yard and didn't find it, so I bought a replacement (three actually, just in case) and figured it was gone forever.

Fast forward to this evening when I was tilling my garden and I glanced over and thought, "That rock looks like a knife....hey, that IS a knife...it's my Loveless!"

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After 4 or 5 years of being first in the high weed and then apparently underground, my knife was back in my hand again. The area where I found it has been mowed, tilled and bush hogged no telling how many times. I can't imagine how this thing hasn't ended up stickling out of one of my tires before now.

Here's what it looked like before I picked it up. There's some damage on the other side, but I'm not sure if it's from the tiller or from a bush hog blade. I'll post follow up pix tomorrow after I get it cleaned up.

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Congratulations on finding it. Scarred or not, it must be like a long lost child coming home and looking for love.
 
It looks like it might be in okay condition! :D I'm surprised it's not rusted after all the years in the rain.

Erd
 
Heck, although looks can be deceptive the knife appears no worse for having lived outside for that length of time.

I have one of those (...and a safe queen, too) :) Made by Moki , who manufactures some of Spyderco's better Japanese production knives, I've always though the Beretta Loveless fixed blades were under-rated. The hollow ground blade is professionally worked to a very thin, razor edge. One might sneer at the AUS-8 blade steel, but then one would be uninformed as to what miracles the Aichi foundry can perform. The grain structure on the AUS-8 is remarkabley uniform. Great knife.
 
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Here it is after a little a water and a dish scrubber. AUS8 and Moki for the win! Despite the dog/tractor damage to the handle all this knife needs is just a few minutes on the Sharpmaker and it will be ready for service again. I know which knife I will be carrying during deer season in the fall! Gramps was spot on in his post about how great these knives are, and this experience just makes me love them even more. I would love for somebody from Beretta to see this so they would know just how well their product can stand up to the elements.

My wife has always doubted my story that a dog took it--she thinks I just dropped it in the yard...maybe the clearly visible teeth marks in the zytel handle will finally convince her :)

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elkins45 said:
My wife has always doubted my story that a dog took it--she thinks I just dropped it in the yard....
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Well, replacing the lost knife with "three more, just in case" may not have helped your cause. ;)


Great story, great pictures, great knife.

~ P.
 
Congratulations on getting it back.......



and may I say, she's a prime candidate for a little handle pimpin'
 
Looks great! One thing I love about Zytel, is that you can file and finish it, and it still will look good.
 
My zytel one is a regular use knife in the Kitchen. I have two of the fancy quince handled ones "just in case". I seriously think these are among the best knifes you can find for the money.
 
Congratulations on finding your long lost knife. Thas is a great story and it looks like the knife has held up amazingly well.
 
Thanks, Elkins, stories and pictures like this are why I and so many others love this place. Great story and thread.

Thanks again

MikeC
 
What an amazing story! Thanks for sharing!
Reminds me of the time I lost a pair of pliers to the lake one fishing season. Long story short, I went back to the same lake the next year at the end of the season and on my last cast of the season I got what I initially thought was a nasty snag. After a few moments of pulling and coaxing it seemed to loosen up with something on the line. Reel it in, lo and behold, it's my pliers from the previous fishing season! Always nice to be reunited :D
 
Chris "Anagarika";10688211 said:
Congrats!

What is the steel and how it was finished? Seems to withstand rust very well :)
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The steel is AUS8 and it was fairly well polished. A lot of people look down on AUS8, and if it is poorly heat treated there's probably a good reason for that, but that's not the case with these knives. Beretta has them made in Japan by Moki and they do such a great job with the heat treatment that they wring every last bit of potential out of the steel. I can normally go an entire season (3-4 deer) with this knife and only need to give it a touch up before next year. They are high hollow ground and cut like you wouldn't believe!

AUS8 is a very fine grained steel so it can take an amazingly keen edge. I won't try and convince you that it holds an edge quite as long as something like M390 but it still has a 'hair popping' edge after processing a small herd of whitetails. I really missed it when it disappeared so that's why I bought a bunch of spares so I wold always have one...and I don't leave knives laying out in the open anymore.

I have a $215 D2 Dozier that I bought a couple of years ago and I firmly believe this $45 knife is every bit its equal. And it's much more corrosion resistant to boot. I should do a commercial for Beretta for these things!
 
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