Memento for a friend (Fillet Knife)

Patrice Lemée

Patrice Lemée

Joined
Aug 13, 2002
Messages
5,703
This is a simple fillet knife I did for Mr. Wallace Sr., the father of a friend. They are both lobstermen in Maine and the best folks you can ever meet. His dad is 89 years old and although he still goes out on the boat with his son on most days, he was not lobstering with his own boat anymore. It was in pretty bad shape and last year they finally had to get it out of the water before it sunk. This was his boat for more than 50 years and I can imagine that it must have been a hard thing for him. I know it's not much but I thought I'd make him a knife with parts of the boat as a memento. I was not there when it was taken out and taken apart so I could not get as much as I would have liked to but I did get a piece of the hull. I used it for the knife handle and also made a small stand with the profile of the boat out of it.

Here is a pic of Mr. Wallace Sr. on his boat many years ago.

eric_dad1.jpeg


And the knife and stand.

gloriam1.jpg


Specs for the knife are:
Blade length: 6” OAL: 11 1/4”
Grind: Flat
Steel: 1084
Handle: Mahogany
Fittings: Brass

I hope he likes it.
Thanks for looking

PS: The only thing I must comment on is the “blockyness” of the handle. I wanted to preserve some of the paint so I could not shape the handle as much I would normally have. But it is still very comfortable and the paint serves the “memento” purpose of this knife much better than a more shapely handle would have.
 
Last edited:
Patrice,
I love the design of that knife,the way the handle and the blade flow,it's beautiful!
It's a very nice thing you did for an old man,and using part of his boat and leaving on some of the paint,a wonderful idea.
Congratulations on a job well done!
 
Where heart and skill meet ... thank you for sharing this beautiful work and story.
 
As I read the background I couldn't see the picture of the knife (couldn't imagine how the handle would look), scrolled down and now I'm jealous. Nicely done!
 
Patrice... cool knife and fantastic idea. Would love to see his reaction when you give it to him. The boat stand really completes the package. Awesome! :thumbup:

Erin
 
Very nice. I think the way you left the paint on was exactly what you needed to do and it looks great. I truly like when a piece has a story like that behind it. I am sure he will love it. Thanks for sharing.
John
 
What a wonderful thing to do Patrice.
Reading the story and looking at the boat is heart warming. I can see the many years he spent on it. I can't imagine all the memories he has from spending over half his life on it.
 
Living in a family filled with lobstermen I must say this is seriously cool.
Well done sir.
 
Thanks for the good words guys. Don't know if I will be able but I'll try to get his someone to snap a pic or two when I give it to him so you can share with me a heart warming moment as Bruce said. I've given away knives to special friends before and their reaction and seeing you brought some joy, no matter how small, to them is absolutely priceless.

Chuck, I thought about antiquing the brass but I wanted the knife to maybe represent the brand new boat if that makes sense.
 
That looks like a mighty fine fillet knife. I love the lines.

So when will you be posting the sheath with a lobster tooled on it? Will the presentation box look like a lobster trap?

Way cool Pat! You're da bomb!
 
I can see how you might have wanted to shape the handle differently but the way it is now is absolutely perfect. You did a marvelous job of capturing the essence of the story in the handle of the knife. The entire piece has a beautiful flow to it. This is a very inspiring piece and I will surely be looking for ways to do something similar. Thank you for sharing your work!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top