Kerry Hampton Knives

blades&grace said:
+1 :thumbup: To all the above!

Kerry that really does look great. Even the shape of the halves match at the bottom of the butt ...and are near full in texture! There are only a few knives that I have assembled in stag that I can say "truly match". It's frustrating at best!

Now that being said... How many emails do you reckon you'll get from customers that attach that picture saying.....

"Make me one in stag that looks just like this"????
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HA! If that happens, I am going to give them your cell phone number.
 
John L said:
Kerry, Ken and Brent, others: I have been cutting scales from rolls a lot lately and have now cut about 1,000 rolls and a few tapers into scales this past year. In the past a man would cut several rolls into scales and he might get 1,2,3 or very rarely 4 scales, from a roll. Normally you get one. Now after cutting several hundred scales form a hundred rolls you must match as best as possible. This is not easy by any means. You have to match for texture, match for width and length, and then try to determine the interior color.....from bright white to a dark tan. At times I just about give up and cannot match any. Well...this will not work as these scales must be matched up as best as possible or all the $$ is down the drain. To make matters worse no more stag is coming from India for a long while....thus the reason for the high pricing currently and for the forseeable future. The Sheffield cutlers tried to match also but if you look at many old knives the stag does not match at all. They had the same problems as we do. They also colored the stag with different agents...potassium permanganate being the most popular. Dyes and stains were a close second in Sheffield. Often they also used shellac over the coloring to set it. PP was most always used here in the states as the material was delivered with a spray of PP on all the stag to act as critter control. It also colored the stag a deep brown or black. American cutlers and their buying public came to accept this as the real color of stag. Every piece takes the PP differently. If you simply cleaned the stag you would have an off white or light tan material. Dark brown or black is caused by both dirt and the PP. The velvet or moss that grows on most all antlers, whether Sambar, whitetail, mule, chittal, etc. also has to be cleaned off of about 1/3 of all stag. This amount of velvet depends upon the season and the amount of activity for the stag. The farmers harvested the antlers .....but more accurately the found the drops and collected them at a centralized collection center. There was then a distribution center also. Collection and distribution is now outlawed in India. Sambar know no political boundaries so there still is a bit coming from China and elsewhere. Very limited however. My favorite part of knifemaking is the fitting of handle material. Kerry put it very well..it is an art and I have not done very well yet....not too artsy I guess.
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Good explanation of what's going on with stag overall. The stag on this knife was also cut from a round. I basically got three pieces off of it that would have worked together differently depending on what knife they would be put on. Many times the "matched pairs" we see for sale at the knife shows are best looked at in terms of separating and seeing if they match up with some of the other pairs. It is maddening and sometimes I just have to tell myself there's just going to be less Hampton knives without stag. I can live with that. ;)
 
You know, I have a great idea for knifehead.com seeing as the only thing that seems to change whenever I look at it is the the weather info. Seeing as you are going to have many more customers, you can add an app that records and sends an email to someone a digital version of those little numbered tickets they have at the department of motor vehicles. Then you have another app on the home page that has the little LED graphic marquee that says "Now Serving" with the number of the next lucky person. What ya think?
 
texasflyfisher said:
You know, I have a great idea for knifehead.com seeing as the only thing that seems to change whenever I look at it is the the weather info. Seeing as you are going to have many more customers, you can add an app that records and sends an email to someone a digital version of those little numbered tickets they have at the department of motor vehicles. Then you have another app on the home page that has the little LED graphic marquee that says "Now Serving" with the number of the next lucky person. What ya think?
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Are you suggesting that Kerry actually let people know where they are on the list?!?
 
wagglebee said:
Are you suggesting that Kerry actually let people know where they are on the list?!?
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True. Anticipation is part of the experience. I take back my idea. Besides, Kerry says it's more of a pile than a list/queue anyways.

I'll go back to watching the weather info ... :(
 
The list/pile is without shape or form and ever changing depending on how I feel. Think mood ring/lava lamp and you'll get the idea. :D
 
texasflyfisher said:
You know, I have a great idea for knifehead.com seeing as the only thing that seems to change whenever I look at it is the the weather info. Seeing as you are going to have many more customers, you can add an app that records and sends an email to someone a digital version of those little numbered tickets they have at the department of motor vehicles. Then you have another app on the home page that has the little LED graphic marquee that says "Now Serving" with the number of the next lucky person. What ya think?
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Great, now I have been sufficiently shamed into making some additions on my website...dangit! :p Seriously, it's just a place to store pix without the obligatory advertising PLUS I get to share some of the other things I find interesting. I know...boring.
 
The weather was perfect yesterday afternoon, So I had
a block of Cedar and used my WT to set outside of my
shop and whittle and BS with my Dad and one of our customers.
Doesn't get much better than that...... imho.


Jason
 

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Jason....


Now that was a day we could all use...and what a beauty.....................so what did you end up with after all that whittling ....a toothpick?
 
Boggs said:
Jason....


Now that was a day we could all use...and what a beauty.....................so what did you end up with after all that whittling ....a toothpick?
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Looks like he ended up with a pile of cedar shavings. Can't ask for much more than that...good looks and function all wrapped into one neat package. Good to see it being used.
 
KnifeHead said:
Looks like he ended up with a pile of cedar shavings. Can't ask for much more than that...good looks and function all wrapped into one neat package. Good to see it being used.
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That's all that was left, That little "stick"lol. I put the cedar shavings in a box,
and I use some in my old brass spit tune. So When I use it smells good and
it's easier to clean out!lol . My wife puts them in
a couple small cloth bags and uses them in our closets at home.
Whatever it takes to keep'em happy.... :confused:
but it's still just as sharp as it was when I started.


Jason
 
bakerg2g said:
That's all that was left, That little "stick"lol. I put the cedar shavings in a box,
and I use some in my old brass spit tune. So When I use it smells good and
it's easier to clean out!lol . My wife puts them in
a couple small cloth bags and uses them in our closets at home.
Whatever it takes to keep'em happy.... :confused:
but it's still just as sharp as it was when I started.


Jason
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That makes sense, I was starting to think that your business was making shavings for gerbil cages. ;)
 
John T Wylie Jr said:
I think he is going in alphabetical order by last name....I am so screwed ;)
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Nah! It's more scientific than that. This is how he does it ...

fortune_teller.jpg
 
Hey, I've seen that image somewhere before...;)
 
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