Nick Wheeler Damascus Fighter

Kevin Jones

Kevin Jones

Joined
Oct 28, 2006
Messages
13,363
Nick posted this beauty up right before San Antonio. Thought I would share the Chuck Ward photos. He did a very nice job.
This Fighter is an agile and fast as lightening only weighing 10.9 oz's. Nick did an outstanding job sculpturing the Ironwood handle perfectly to fit the hand. Paul Long supplied a beautiful custom tooled leather sheath with a beaver tail inlay to his normal superb execution.

Had considered having Jere Davidson do some light scroll engraving on the guard and asked Nick his thoughts on this. He was fine with it, however the guard is so-so Nick Wheeler clean I think I'm going to leave it as is. Feel free to share your thoughts overall and engrave or not engrave?

Here's the specifications:

Blade Steel ~ Nick's 1084/15N20 random pattern damascus
Guard ~ 416 stainless steel guard
Handle ~ Premium sculptured Desert Ironwood
Blade Length ~ 9"
Overall Length ~ 14-1/4"
Blade Width ~ 1-11/16" at widest
Blade Thickness ~ 0.225" at guard and immediately tapers from plunge cut
Total Weight ~ 10.9 oz.

NickWheelerFighter.jpg


NickWheelerFightersmaller.jpg


And as always, thank you in advance for views and comments.
 
oh my that is the stuff of dreams!
(I would vote to leave it as is in its beautiful steady state)
 
Great knife, great sheath, and great photo Kevin. I got to see this one first hand in San Antonio and it is a real sweet knife. I have hear so much about the quality of work that Nick is known for and this is a fine example. Until the show I had heard many comments on just how good a knife he makes and I am now a believer. Not to mention Nick is one heck of a nice guy.

Great acquisition Kevin!!

Congratulations, Jon
 
Classic Wheeler awesomeness. :thumbup: I'm really tickled to see a few examples of his work of late. They are all winners in my books.

Thumbs up to Chuck on the photo and Paul on the sheath - you guys rock.

Roger

PS - I usually have a pretty firm view on the subject, but in this case I could go either way on the engraving.
 
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I say, its a wooden handle. Don't engrave. Thats a gorgeous knife man! I've always wanted one like that from Nick.

Does the damascus have alot of contrast or is more shimmery? Can't tell from any pic. Speaking of pictures, that one is VERY sriking.

EDIT- The pin might look cool engraved alone. :)
 
Its more of a thing that makes sense to me in my head, but hard to explain. I bet it would look good with engraving actually but I usually think of engraving going with Ivory. I think the wood makes it seem more like a practical working knife (though I don't know how many people carry fighters) and not the kind of knife i'd embellish.

Art is art though, and engraving wouldn't hurt. I just don't think it would need much.
 
I see where you're coming from. I don't want to derail Kevin's thread, so I guess I'll just say I view wood differently from you. To me, it's not a "downscale" material in and of itself.

Roger
 
Beautiful! I vote leave the guard as is. I like the clean break between the superb damascus and Iron wood! But I agree with Jonathan, the pin would look good engraved! A small but interesting additional detail to a exceptional knife.

Steve
---------
Potomac Forge
 
On the engraving, I'd personally be inclined to leave that one alone. There's not a whole lot of room for it, anyway. Maybe engraving something on the pins and repeating it or some variation on the same scale centered on the guard might be ok, but I really don't think that the knife needs it. My opinion would be the same if the handle were ivory, FWIW. Congrats on getting yet another great knife.
 
No engraving necessary, imo.
Congrats on a great piece, Kevin, and a great addition to your collection.
WOW, a Wheeler Fighter dressed by Paul Long ! :cool:

Doug
 
A real beauty :thumbup:
Congrats to Nick, Paul. Chuck and Kevin :)

Well, I humbly vote for engraved guard. Reason, with random pattern damascus blade and full activity desert ironwood handle, it's as if leaving the clean blank guard in nude without engraving! Even the pin .. just because of the big size of the pin .. IMVHO it still needs a little touch of engraving as well! It's just my unworthy 2 cents opinion :D

mohd
 
GREAT looking Fighter Kevin! While it looks good as is, the right engraving could enhance its beauty in my opinion.

Considering the coloring in the wood, a couple of scrolls with gold inlaid backbones and engraving on the pin would look great.

Peter
 
mohd said:
A real beauty :thumbup:
Congrats to Nick, Paul. Chuck and Kevin :)

Well, I humbly vote for engraved guard. Reason, with random pattern damascus blade and full activity desert ironwood handle, it's as if leaving the clean blank guard in nude without engraving! Even the pin .. just because of the big size of the pin .. IMVHO it still needs a little touch of engraving as well! It's just my unworthy 2 cents opinion :D

mohd
Click to expand...

Nothing unworthy about that opinion mohd - you've stated the case for engraving very well.

Roger
 
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