Ken Coats Slipjoints

Ken's knives are owned by several, perhaps many, "Porch" inhabitants. His stuff is exceptional. I thought to start a thread featuring Ken's work and I'll begin with this one just received. Ken calls this his "5 in. Barlow". She's a true Grand Daddy Barlow with 5" closed dimension and a 4" blade of CPM154 (I think) steel. The full belly'd blade is flat ground to produce an excellent slicer applicable to bird and trout usage. Actually, I wouldn't hesitate to take this one through a deer or two. I asked him to use carbon fiber on this one and it turned out great. Fit and finish is as close to perfect as I'm able to discern. The "walk" is smooth and the "talk" is distinct. I guess I'm gushing, but I'm in love! Thanks Ken....Let's see some others of Ken's magic!!View attachment 621749
 
I always have admired his knives. Have yet to own one. Almost bought a green bone saddlehorn trapper that was for sale here a year or two ago. Always regretted passing on that. Beautiful jigging it had...

I am more of a user and the thought of losing a 300-500 dollar knife kills me. I always keep my eyes out for users tho.
 
Chalk me up as a big fan. Ken made this Easy Open Sheepsfoot Jack for me back in 2011. We discussed the knife on the phone a couple of times and also communicated quite a bit by emails and PM's.

I had a pretty good idea what the knife would look like but when Ken sent me the WIP pictures I was happier than a ................ well, you know.

It has been a wonderful companion. I would order another knife from Ken without hesitation. No doubt about it.

The first three photos are Ken's pics and the last two are mine.









 
Ken is not just a fantastic knifemaker he is also a thorough gentleman. Here are my three which I was lucky to buy from him at a US Knifemakers Guild show in Louisville in '09.:)

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Steve, those pics are great, especially the one of Ken and Kay. I've owned three of Ken's knives and every one has been exceptional. The one above is the first I've commissioned directly from him. A better guy to work with would be hard to find. His turn-around time blew me away. I expected months and it was only weeks. I'm looking forward to seeing as many of his knives as possible here.
 
This weekend was the Badger Knife Show here in Wisconsin. Went down Friday to poke around and had a great time. Got to handle a great variety of slip joints from all sorts of makers and thoroughly enjoyed it. Some beautiful knives there for the traditional fan with a surprisingly solid offering of custom traditionals.

Had no intention of buying another knife, didn't even bring cash or my check book with me. But this one caught my eye and I was really impressed with it. Excellently built and finished knife. I left without it on Friday but kept thinking about it until Saturday morning. Decided I needed to have it.

It had been snowing some but I looked out the window and saw sunny skies and clear streets so I jumped in the car, got some gas and stopped by the bank before hitting the road. The show is about 30mi from me, about 5 mi into the drive the skies turned dark and it was basically a mini little blizzard with cars going about 20mph. I turned around and went home and continued with my normal Saturday activity of going to the pool hall to shoot pool.

4 hours later it had finally stopped snowing so rather than heading home from pool I decided to try again! In the end, I got my knife!

Ken builds a really great knife and his swayback pattern is probably my favorite take on the style, the curves of the blade and handle are just perfectly proportioned. There were a couple others on his table that were really nice too Another swayback and a couple single blade jacks, but the grey/green jigged bone on this one sealed the deal for me.

Thanks Ken, it was nice to meet you and I love my new knife!


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slide13 said:
This weekend was the Badger Knife Show here in Wisconsin. Went down Friday to poke around and had a great time. Got to handle a great variety of slip joints from all sorts of makers and thoroughly enjoyed it. Some beautiful knives there for the traditional fan with a surprisingly solid offering of custom traditionals.

Had no intention of buying another knife, didn't even bring cash or my check book with me. But this one caught my eye and I was really impressed with it. Excellently built and finished knife. I left without it on Friday but kept thinking about it until Saturday morning. Decided I needed to have it.

It had been snowing some but I looked out the window and saw sunny skies and clear streets so I jumped in the car, got some gas and stopped by the bank before hitting the road. The show is about 30mi from me, about 5 mi into the drive the skies turned dark and it was basically a mini little blizzard with cars going about 20mph. I turned around and went home and continued with my normal Saturday activity of going to the pool hall to shoot pool.

4 hours later it had finally stopped snowing so rather than heading home from pool I decided to try again! In the end, I got my knife!

Ken builds a really great knife and his swayback pattern is probably my favorite take on the style, the curves of the blade and handle are just perfectly proportioned. There were a couple others on his table that were really nice too Another swayback and a couple single blade jacks, but the grey/green jigged bone on this one sealed the deal for me.

Thanks Ken, it was nice to meet you and I love my new knife!


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Click to expand...

Congrats Slide : I was able to handle that knife on Friday and I certainly agree that it is a fine knife !!! It also was a pleasure for me to meet Ken and discuss a few things . Again , Congrats on getting a fine knife !!!

Harry
 
Had the acorn shield around for a while. This new computer and learning how to post with it is gonna be a while.
I've pretty much been working on orders off and on since last summer, pretty much even up between straight
blades and slips.
Ken.
 
Another beauty, Ken. I love the shape of the clip, along with the central location of the nail nick.
 
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