Marbles 'Sport 99" Drop Point Hunter

I was in heaven when the Gladstone factory was putting out wonderful knives just 80 miles from where I live.
 
Bob W and pvicenzi, those are some nice looking blades, as I said before, I am a sucker for those stacked leather handles!

I've been trying to track one down for my collection, but most seem to be well out of my price range at the moment. I've been keeping my eye out for a decent condition Schrade H-15, they look clean and simple and have those nice stacked handles, just with a bit more modest price point. :D
 
A better pic:

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Bullion said:
Bob W and pvicenzi, those are some nice looking blades, as I said before, I am a sucker for those stacked leather handles!

I've been trying to track one down for my collection, but most seem to be well out of my price range at the moment.
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The original retail price on that stacked leather collectible was around $120. That was in the 1990s, as I recall without checking my records. I don't keep track of prices on these, but it seems like you should be able to find one for that price still. Might have to settle for a different model.

I've been keeping my eye out for a decent condition Schrade H-15, they look clean and simple and have those nice stacked handles, just with a bit more modest price point. :D
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Case has a nice series of stacked leather hunting knives with prices that are much lower than the Marbles.
I am also quite impressed with the stacked leather KaBar hunting knives. The knives are really well put together and are made in Taiwan. The sheathes are very thick genuine leather and made in Mexico. Their prices start at $30. The Boy got one from Santa.
 
Bob W said:
Case has a nice series of stacked leather hunting knives with prices that are much lower than the Marbles.
I am also quite impressed with the stacked leather KaBar hunting knives. The knives are really well put together and are made in Taiwan. The sheathes are very thick genuine leather and made in Mexico. Their prices start at $30. The Boy got one from Santa.
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I've actually looked into both the Case and Ka-Bar stacked leather fixed blades already, only thing that stopped me from grabbing one is the lack of carbon steel. I feel like I'll still end up grabbing one from each maker just to see how they feel in hand down the road! Highly doubt they'd hold up to these Marbles though. :D

Thanks for the heads up though, greatly appreciate it. :thumbup:
 
Carbon steel and you're looking for a user rather than a collectible? Scour the auction sites for vintage/used Remington, Pal, and Kinsfolk. :thumbup:
 
If you can't wait, Hess knifeworks has some stacked leather handled knives. Hess once worked for Marbles. Blackjack has some beauties too, but I think they are pricey.
 
I was wondering if someone was going to mention Hess as an option. Do you have any hands on experience with them? They certainly look nice, at surprisingly reasonable prices.
 
I have one of their stainless capers. It is well made. However, I have not used it enough to know how it performs.
 
Those Hess knives seem to be exactly what I've had my eye out for, not sure how I managed to let them slip under the radar.

Greatly appreciate the suggestion pvicenzi!
 
Smithhammer said:
I've been keeping my eye out for one of these for some time. Built during the height of Mike Sewart's time overseeing knife production @ Marbles, and 'approved' by R.W. Loveless. Last week, I found it - unused and with the original 'Bobcat" box and sheath. Still had a pretty good convex edge on it too! A little stropping and it was good to go.

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Better pics to come, and I'll probably be looking around for a sheath maker. This baby deserves some fancy pants. :D :thumbup:
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Well,...I've been wanting one of these for awhile also,....and just found a nice example but with the polished black micarta contoured handle they call a "Carver". (A bit ironic I think since you won't find any utilitarian carving knives with this thick a blade :-)

Below are pics of the same model as mine but a different knife, as I haven't had time to take pics of my example.

A few surprises when it arrived,.....the first being the spine is MUCH thicker than I expected, or than it needs to be to. It's not the best choice to optimize slicing for food prep especially, and even for light Bushcraft duty. Mine measures a full 7/32" in thickness at the hilt, and stays thick along the entire slight taper toward the tip.

This is just under 1/4 inch blade stock, and from experience I feel this knife would have been much better served had it been made with around the 1/8" thick or so stock of the vintage Marbles like the Woodcraft and Expert models. This especially so since the blade is ONLY 3-3/4 inches in length, so flexing is not an issue in this length. I have no clue why they so greatly thickened up the knife, when decades of experience had shown the previous best sellers were plenty thick already, and at longer blade lengths to boot!

I still like the knife (especially the blade spear point shape), ....because the 52-100 ball bearing steel is a great edge holding steel! Also, a convex edged knife was always lacking from my personal collection of working knives. But I am also wondering if this particular model with the epoxied on grip will hold up to common tasks.

From a magnet test, it appears the hidden tang only goes through about 1/2 the length of the handle on this configuration (or maybe a bit LESS than half?),......and ends just past the thickest "bulge" that is contoured into the grip about the midway point. My magnet is not the strongest, so I'll look for a better one and hopefully I will get "some" attraction further into the handle. But I get plenty of magnet attraction (using a wooden "Deer head" refrigerator stick on carving) at even the thickest part of the handle bulge. So I should get some attraction in the recess of the handle contour "if" some of the tang was there?

I would have been a bit more at ease had they added at least one pin to the handle, which I may try to do myself,.... and hope I can drill through the tang to get it done. (not sure how hard the tang was left???)

It would seem to me the more common examples with the tang going all the way through (like yours),....and ending with a threaded nut is much more secure. I may look for one of those at some point if I decide to use this type blade regularly.

......but that thick blade is just so unnecessary on a blade of this length. Had the "Loveless" laser engraving been a little lower, I might have considered thinning the first 1/4 inch of the blade, (from the spine down toward the edge). But as it is, that would remove all of the "Loveless" engraving. I'll use it awhile,.....but will probably at least try to add a single brass pin through the handle.

Oh,....and you're right about the sheath,......just not up to the task. Mine is under 1/8" thick, and way too flexible. I much prefer a high ride snap strap secured sheath anyway in a knife of this size.

I will surely make one up myself, but of much thicker vegetable tanned leather. I wouldn't trust this thin one to keep the blade from pushing through in a fall or other rough encounter with side pressure to the sheath.

Anyway, here are pics of the model I have:











 
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