old custom blade

M

momba4

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Sep 18, 2005
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I was traveling through west Texas and visited a blacksmith shop.He was selling all his knives and having read a lot about hand made knives in the 1970s I recognized some of the names.I was surprised how cheap they were, I thought what he was asking was what they sold for back in the 70s.He admitted the prices were the same but wanted the $ fast so was asking less than they were worth today(1999).He had Finger,Bone and a famous knifemaker out of Montana who used Studebaker auto spring steel in his knives.( Im sorry the name escapes me but with the info I have provided Im sure some of the old timers will know who I am talking about)Also this Montana maker has passed but the family continues to make knives ---noted for their bowies Oh Rudy Ruana, thats his name it was on the tip of my tongue.I bought the Ruana and the Bone,both medium size hunting knives.The Bone has an incredible feel to it.I am curious to know if these makers are very collectable , and how I could go about finding what they are worth---they both appear to be unused.By the way I found a man who collected old Studebakers and I bought 40 pounds of spring steel from him, I was saving it to give to the B-Smith becuase he knew Ruanas heat treating method and he said these knives held the best edge of any knife he knew of, and he wanted to make some bowies.Well my wife threw all of it out--I could have ------- her.Id be interested if anyone has any info on these makers and their knives?

thanks
momba4 :rolleyes:
 
I think you are probably talking about Ralph Bone. His knives are very nice.

There is a Ralph bone trailing point hunter on eBay right now that the owner has put a starting bid of $400.00 on. It has not received any bids yet.

The knives of Rudy Ruana have become very collectable. Here is a link to the Ruana Knives website: www.ruanaknives.com

If you check out Ruana knives on eBay you will find quite a few. The small hunters don't usually go for very high prices. The big knives do quite a bit better.
 
Howdy,

Most Bone hunters I've seen end up in the $250-350 range. Ruana m stamped hunters $275-500, depending on model.
:).
 
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