grandpa's knife

enix

enix

Joined
Mar 21, 2007
Messages
452
ok i have a couple different questions, so i will try to orginze them the best i can.
a little background: i am looking for a slippie for my grandpa. he is 65-70 years young ( the exact number excapes me right now). he gre up on a farm in michigan, worked as a mechanic in the AF, and retired from the county as a heavy equipment mechanic supervisor. He now works at a paint store as basically a jack-of-all-trades, from mixing paint to working on the forklift and unloading palletts. He does a fair bit of yard work and volunteers at the local church, along w/ being the treasuer of the local lions club.

^sorry if some of this is irrelevent but i want to give a good insight as to what the knife maybe used for.

1: i am looking for some input on what you guys think he might like as far as model, or type of slippie. I know he usually carrys a small 2-3 blade OT or case. i dont know what types speciffically.

2: materials: i want something with bone or stag handles, prefferably a natural finish, unless there is a big push for something else. also carbon, 1095 or similar, is a must. i also want a place for engraving on the handle, as i want to put his enitials on it.

3: what would be the price/timeframe for something like this? i was hoping to keep it around $100-$150 and give it to him for christmas. although if everything else comes together i could go for a time after that and just gift it to him for his birthday, or just for being a great guy :).

4: who is recomended in the custom slippie world?

thats all for now, i think. i maybe able to do some recon on his current EDC if it may be of some help to anyone.

thanks a million for all input.
 
At the price or even double, I don't think you are going to find a custom slipjoint maker. Lots of work/time go into them ;), but there are some excellent factory knives that would foot the bill that he would be thrilled with.

Come join us over in the Tradional forums were the gang there can help out.

gus
 
What Bastid said.

The only person I can think of that comes close to $150 would be Bob Ham. But I'm not sure if he uses carbon steel. And this would be the approximate starting price without engraving.

Anything else starts at double with other low-price, but high-quality slipjoint makers. And even at double (or even triple) the price they're worth every penny. Those makers have been mentioned before and can be found using the search feature. Off the top of my head these people may be able to get you a knife before Christmas: Todd Davison (bigal2me on this forum), Ty Montell, Ken Erickson, Hiroaki Ohta. There must be more that can meet the deadline but I'm not going to post them because I'm not sure what their waiting lists look like.

I did a custom slipjoint for my Granddad one year, a custom bowie for my father two years ago, my father-in-law last year with a Scott Slobodian tanto that was not cheap, and this year again for my father with a Remington Bullet recreation by one of the makers I mentioned above.

Price for these projects was definitely an issue, especially with the tanto... I just informed a few family members of the project idea and had them give me money. It was the only gift they got from those that pitched-in that year but it was a great one at that. Just a thought in trying to increase your budget.
 
Look into Great Eastern Cutlery. They have a number of carbon 2 bladers with excellent bone scales and shields, not stag though but the herringbone and jigged bone is very old school, in the right way! Cost under a hundred but a decent worker and a very nice present. Cumberland knife and Sooner State Knives have a good choice, probably others too.
 
thanks all. i wasn't sure if that price was a dream but it appears to be.
sierra11b: i hadnt thought about involving other family members w/ the moola.
bastid: should i repost the whole post in the traditional forums or just link to this one?
 
I think Bob Ham's work is really worth looking into.
When I get my first custom slippie, he's going to be the guy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top