It started about 1970. Purchased to accompany my father in his duties during the Vietnam war. He volunteered for the Army and qualified for Special Forces (Green Beret).
After the war, and right before I was born, the family moved from Miami Florida to Colorado. Being a bow hunter and avid outdoorsman, this knife accompanied him on all of our outdoor hunting and camping adventures.
At age 45, with all his children out of the house, he decided to move back to Miami and live with his parents, to help out in their old age. He decided to make this trip via kayak. He took various waterways to the Mississippi River, then down to the Gulf of Mexico and along the coastline of Florida, all the way to Key West. The knife kept in close reach strapped to outside of the kayak for the entire 3 month journey.
His days of outdoor adventures being over, he put the knife away. He didn't clean it, oil it, or even remove it from the saltwater soaked sheath. I went to visit him a few years later and he showed me the knife. I almost cried. "it was supposed to be stainless" he said.
(pro tip: stainless steel is rust resistant, not rust proof).
2017 he succumbed to cancer, and the knife came to me.
This was the state of the knife when I received it.
After cleaning it with a wire brush
I wanted to find the same fishing line he used to wrap the handle before removing it. Scouring the internet for vintage fishing line, this was the closest thing I could find.
With the handle wrap removed.
In this state, I sent the knife to Randall Made Knifes for refinishing, and to obtain a new sheath.
This is what it looked like when they returned it to me three weeks later.
New sheath and old sheath
I re-wrapped the handle.
Ready for it's next adventure.
Thank you Randall Made Knifes for the expert refinishing of this functional piece of artwork!
After the war, and right before I was born, the family moved from Miami Florida to Colorado. Being a bow hunter and avid outdoorsman, this knife accompanied him on all of our outdoor hunting and camping adventures.
At age 45, with all his children out of the house, he decided to move back to Miami and live with his parents, to help out in their old age. He decided to make this trip via kayak. He took various waterways to the Mississippi River, then down to the Gulf of Mexico and along the coastline of Florida, all the way to Key West. The knife kept in close reach strapped to outside of the kayak for the entire 3 month journey.
His days of outdoor adventures being over, he put the knife away. He didn't clean it, oil it, or even remove it from the saltwater soaked sheath. I went to visit him a few years later and he showed me the knife. I almost cried. "it was supposed to be stainless" he said.
(pro tip: stainless steel is rust resistant, not rust proof).
2017 he succumbed to cancer, and the knife came to me.
This was the state of the knife when I received it.
After cleaning it with a wire brush
I wanted to find the same fishing line he used to wrap the handle before removing it. Scouring the internet for vintage fishing line, this was the closest thing I could find.
With the handle wrap removed.
In this state, I sent the knife to Randall Made Knifes for refinishing, and to obtain a new sheath.
This is what it looked like when they returned it to me three weeks later.
New sheath and old sheath
I re-wrapped the handle.
Ready for it's next adventure.
Thank you Randall Made Knifes for the expert refinishing of this functional piece of artwork!
