- Joined
- Feb 28, 2002
- Messages
- 13,348
Greetings gents,
Those on dial-up may wish to view the pictures here:
http://www.fototime.com/inv/743D33C4552BB38
I have had this one on order with Burt for little while, but the last time my name came up I had him make me the laminate fighter (of last year's Best Bowie thread) instead. My desire for this one never diminished, however, and I was happy when the time came to have it made.
In my opinion, Burt does some of the most truly elegant big camp knives out there. I had seen many fine examples over the years and drew from some of those past blades as inspiration for the knife I would have Burt make for me.
For example, I found the slight trailing point, flowing spine grind and slightly dropped handle of the knife below below to be very appealing:
However, given Burt's talent for turning out really gorgeous integrals and stunning hamons, I wanted those features incorporated into my blade as well.
But wait, there's more!
While the knife would be of integral construction, I hoped to convince Burt to make mine with an integral butt cap as well - a combination he had not before rendered in one of his camp knives. Not easy to be sure, but Burt was up to the challenge.
The remaining specifications included:
1) some kind of bold, showy wood for the handle;
2) sheath done however Burt wanted to do it, but with...
3) a matching custom made belt - an uncommon but very cool option to round out the bespoke sole-authorship package.
Enough blabbing - here's the end result, beautifully captured by my man Coop:
Specs are as follows:
- one piece of W2, two pieces of spalted maple, 6 domed nickel silver pins
- blade length of a shade over 11 1/4" overall length of 16 1/4", 1 3/4" wide
- filed integral butt cap
- custom leather sheath and matching belt.
In my view, Burt nailed every aspect of the order and then some. To my eye, the knife has that Ferrari-like quality of looking like it's going a 100 miles per hour when standing still. There is some serious "flow" happening from every angle:
The fit and finish are typical Foster excellence, with the satin finished flats contrasting with the mirror-polished spine , bolster, butt cap and tang . The wood is just what I had in mind - the warm golden tones of the maple richly marbled with the random streaks and swirls of dark brown and black. Feel in the hand is just about perfect for a large camp knife - it may look almost delicate, but feels capable of some serious chopping. Balance point is just about right at the "BF" maker's mark.
The clay-coated oil quench (a process I was priveleged to witness Burt demonstrate at the Northeast Hammer-in last summer) resulted in an extremely active, though subtle hamon:
The more evident frosty white hardening line is accompanied by a more subtle grey echo, running slightly out of phase along its length. This otherwise crappy hand-held pic shows off this feature a bit more:
A quality leather sheath is part of the package on any Foster knife - here rendered in a striking combination of tones and textures. The leather belt finishes off the package nicely, and has the advantage of being wearable in a good many circumstances where a foot long sword-like object would be unwelcome:
It is always a pleasure to work with Burt - excellent communication, a superb product and a terrific value are all guaranteed. My thanks also to Coop for the comprehensive and equally superb photo coverage. And thanks to you all for taking a peek.
Roger
Those on dial-up may wish to view the pictures here:
http://www.fototime.com/inv/743D33C4552BB38
I have had this one on order with Burt for little while, but the last time my name came up I had him make me the laminate fighter (of last year's Best Bowie thread) instead. My desire for this one never diminished, however, and I was happy when the time came to have it made.
In my opinion, Burt does some of the most truly elegant big camp knives out there. I had seen many fine examples over the years and drew from some of those past blades as inspiration for the knife I would have Burt make for me.
For example, I found the slight trailing point, flowing spine grind and slightly dropped handle of the knife below below to be very appealing:
However, given Burt's talent for turning out really gorgeous integrals and stunning hamons, I wanted those features incorporated into my blade as well.
But wait, there's more!
While the knife would be of integral construction, I hoped to convince Burt to make mine with an integral butt cap as well - a combination he had not before rendered in one of his camp knives. Not easy to be sure, but Burt was up to the challenge.
The remaining specifications included:
1) some kind of bold, showy wood for the handle;
2) sheath done however Burt wanted to do it, but with...
3) a matching custom made belt - an uncommon but very cool option to round out the bespoke sole-authorship package.
Enough blabbing - here's the end result, beautifully captured by my man Coop:
Specs are as follows:
- one piece of W2, two pieces of spalted maple, 6 domed nickel silver pins
- blade length of a shade over 11 1/4" overall length of 16 1/4", 1 3/4" wide
- filed integral butt cap
- custom leather sheath and matching belt.
In my view, Burt nailed every aspect of the order and then some. To my eye, the knife has that Ferrari-like quality of looking like it's going a 100 miles per hour when standing still. There is some serious "flow" happening from every angle:
The fit and finish are typical Foster excellence, with the satin finished flats contrasting with the mirror-polished spine , bolster, butt cap and tang . The wood is just what I had in mind - the warm golden tones of the maple richly marbled with the random streaks and swirls of dark brown and black. Feel in the hand is just about perfect for a large camp knife - it may look almost delicate, but feels capable of some serious chopping. Balance point is just about right at the "BF" maker's mark.
The clay-coated oil quench (a process I was priveleged to witness Burt demonstrate at the Northeast Hammer-in last summer) resulted in an extremely active, though subtle hamon:
The more evident frosty white hardening line is accompanied by a more subtle grey echo, running slightly out of phase along its length. This otherwise crappy hand-held pic shows off this feature a bit more:
A quality leather sheath is part of the package on any Foster knife - here rendered in a striking combination of tones and textures. The leather belt finishes off the package nicely, and has the advantage of being wearable in a good many circumstances where a foot long sword-like object would be unwelcome:
It is always a pleasure to work with Burt - excellent communication, a superb product and a terrific value are all guaranteed. My thanks also to Coop for the comprehensive and equally superb photo coverage. And thanks to you all for taking a peek.
Roger
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