New Tuna Valley - Carenter Whittler

Rookie82

Rookie82

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Tuna Valley just released their latest knife, now available to buy at dealer sites. I ordered one in buffalo horn, hopefully I'll see it Mon/Tues and can comment about it. I wanted to let folks know about it, because some have commented in the past that they wanted a handle other than stag, but all were sold out. Now is the time if you want a buffalo handle.
 
The pattern has been previously used by Queen and branded as Schatt & Morgan. I had one of those knives and it's a neat pattern. The steel on the Tuna Valley version should be much better than the 420HC on the original knives. Mine had stag covers.
 
Oh son of a... I'm trying to save up for something else!!

Edit: thanks for the heads up. I'm in love with the queen #48 pattern. I can't top off my PP account till morning so please don't buy out the amber stag everyone. thanks.
 
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Thanks for the heads up!! I don't need any more knives, but that hasn't stopped me before...
 
supratentorial said:
The pattern has been previously used by Queen and branded as Schatt & Morgan. I had one of those knives and it's a neat pattern. The steel on the Tuna Valley version should be much better than the 420HC on the original knives. Mine had stag covers.
Click to expand...
These are 154cm.
 
I took a look at them. They also have steel pins and liners which I think is nice. The bolsters are nickle silver. No shields on the buffalo or stag which seems to be a recent trend. I do like shields but these knives already have enough embellishement with the slanted and pinched bolsters. I do prefer plain bolsters but these are nice looking knives. I'd like a closer look at how the blades were ground and the mechanics. Definitely not cheap but it's not an easy pattern and the materials seem to be of high quality.
 
The Queen No.48 Whittler in D2 is one of my prized knives, first class build. As this knife uses the same Swell Centre frame it should be very good item. I like the blade assortment on the Carpenter, would like to see it on more Whiitlers frankly. The all steel construction is an appeal too and the Buffalo Horn could be good. American cutlers seem less keen on Blonde Horn or Ram's Horn than Europeans, that's a pity as these would also make fine choices for this knife. I agree that leaving out the shield is debatable, these would look good with a simple Bar shield for instance.

The knife is quite costly so it should be well finished and I hope it will be a success for Queen/Tuna Valley and users alike.:thumbup:
 
Got my whittler in. It's a really nice knife, nearly flawless. It fits my hand very well. All 3 blades are tight and clean. The smaller 2 have a medium pull, and strong snap closed. The larger blade is a stiffer pull and very strong snap. No 1/2 stops on any blades. The handles are fit tight and show a little character with color variation, they aren't just jet black throughout. There is a small surface blemish on the front handle, which is not uncommon for buffalo horn handles, but it is not a crack. The bolsters are slanted, ridged, and pinched. The knife is 3 1/2 inches closed. Blades are 154cm, has steel liners and pins, and nickle silver bolsters. The blades had an OK edge on them, not great, but not dull. Came in black velvet pouch, in shipping tube with Tuna Valley logo sticker. Came with certificate of authenticity. Buffalo handle production limited to only 25 pieces. Nothing I can really complain about on this one. It's not up to the quality of a custom traditional, but it's definitely higher quality than standard production knives from Queen or Case. I'm a very happy camper.

 
Beautiful looking knife. This is one of those patterns that I look at and say yes, but it is just a little small for me. I had a gec 33 which is about the same size and flavor and I couldn't get comfortable with its size. I want to like it though, you know what I mean? Anyhow, that is a really nice looking knife. My favorite knives are "white and black". I.e. no brass with black covers (as in black, not streaky or brown), white pins, white liners, white bolsters, springs, and black covers. That is all class.
Rookie82 said:
Got my whittler in. It's a really nice knife, nearly flawless. It fits my hand very well. All 3 blades are tight and clean. The smaller 2 have a medium pull, and strong snap closed. The larger blade is a stiffer pull and very strong snap. No 1/2 stops on any blades. The handles are fit tight and show a little character with color variation, they aren't just jet black throughout. There is a small surface blemish on the front handle, which is not uncommon for buffalo horn handles, but it is not a crack. The bolsters are slanted, ridged, and pinched. The knife is 3 1/2 inches closed. Blades are 154cm, has steel liners and pins, and nickle silver bolsters. The blades had an OK edge on them, not great, but not dull. Came in black velvet pouch, in shipping tube with Tuna Valley logo sticker. Came with certificate of authenticity. Buffalo handle production limited to only 25 pieces. Nothing I can really complain about on this one. It's not up to the quality of a custom traditional, but it's definitely higher quality than standard production knives from Queen or Case. I'm a very happy camper.

Click to expand...
 
For comparison, here is a Schatt & Morgan branded carpenter's whittler from around 10 or so years ago. I think this might be the photo from the seller when I bought it.

 
I agree Rockon, it is a tad small for me to be a user. The length is fine, but the width/thickness is small to hold. Most of my Tuna's are displayed and not used though. And you are right, a knife that is all shiny white with black handles is very classy, like Sinatra in a tuxedo.

Jake, I'm sure the frames from this Tuna and your S&M would be exactly the same. Just different blades fitted to them. To my knowledge, all Tuna knives offered in the last 4 years have come from existing tooling from Queen (or from GEC for the 2012 knives).
 
They likely use the same dies. Queen has dies for lots of cool patterns... maybe every pattern they would ever need. I was just looking for small differences in manufacturing. It's difficult to tell from photos but the blades look like they may have been ground flat on the new knife. They're sort of rounded on the old knife. They also seem to be putting more of an effort on the edge.
 
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