Thanks Jack - that stag handled knife is actually my Lefty A. Wright, very thoughtfully gifted to me by Charlie (Waynorth).
It looked a little different when I received it earlier this year.
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I enjoyed the mirror polished blade and lefty etch of the knife for a while, delaying doing my full 'A. Wright sharpening regime', to preserve it. When the etch started to wear away a little, I decided a patina was indicated for functionality - to assist grip in pinching the blade open.
I finely sliced a little pile of pickled jalapeños and left the blade in it for a few minutes, then dripped boiling water from the kettle over it in the kitchen sink to clean it. I heated the blade in boiling water, dried it, and repeated the process a couple of times. I smoothed the handle to that nice, pocketworn river rock feel in hand with abrasives, then dunked the knife in a strong tea mixture for a while, to simulate the tannin staining which occurs naturally in stag antler from stags thrashing at trees and shredding the bark off.
I've been meaning to get some potassium permanganate to dab into the low spots on the handle to darken it up a bit.
It has a nice clean, smooth action, of 'Sheffield firmness' of snap and pull, and if I had to guess, I would venture to say one of the experienced hands at Wright's put this one together - it has an 'assured' feel to the construction.
Anyway, that tinkering accounts for the different look of ol' Lefty these days. Thanks again Charlie - I've really been enjoying using this one 'out bush' lately, as a general camp duties and basic food prep 'tucker' knife.

It's a 'good un', alright!
I did mate (I think) - it was on this bridge looking out at this 'goit', is it? Next to the the Beckett & Son Saw Works, near Kelham Island? (Sounds like a line from a Pulp song!)
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