Old Elephants

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7forests

Joined
Feb 13, 2001
Messages
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I bought a Crawford Kasper with mastadon scales from Bob Glassman this week. In the thread was a message from BalisongMan: "You must really like Mastadon in the handles of your knives!!" Yes, yes I do.
I was going to post a reply in that thread but then I thought it might stimulate some activity if I put it here instead.

I've been reading (ie, lurking around) BladeForum for a few months and I'm stating the obvious when I say that "the knife" has a tangible mythic quality resonating with our deepest past.

OK, I also want to suggest that ancient organic material like ivory has a mythic quality as well and resonates similarly.

There is a feeling I get holding a knife like this or even one with wood scales, that I don't get from my mostly titanium Sebenza.

I guess what I want out of this thread is to hear what there is about knives that attracts us apart from the intensity of acquiring, selling, trading and opening letters with them.

Joe

Life is the most fun of all!
 
I think one of the things that attracts so many people to organic handle material (especially if it is not mass produced) is that the knife's handle has an amount of character. Due to the type of material used (abalone, mastondon ivory, etc.) the owner has a knife that is truly one of a kind and is conected to the environment.

People in general like the idea that:

"This thing I possess is mine and nobody else has one like it."

When I first started working here I spoke to a lady on the phone who was looking for a graduation gift for her son. She wanted something one of a kind, that he wouldn't spend the money on, for himself. After twenty or thirty minutes of talking to her I came across some Mastadon ivory pieces from Bulldog. I explained the way character figures into a knife collectors collection and after sending her a picture through the mail she called back and bought one.

About a month later I got a letter from her son. Eclosed was a picture of him with the new knife already in a display case. He was thrilled with the knife and was raving about the ivory scales having so much... you guessed it character. He also talked about how he could feel the 'oldness' of the knife and thought that it had a 'connection' to the past.

Long story short you can not get that type of natural character from anything but a rare organic handle material and the knowledge that this thing you aquired, this item, has a connection to the elements that made it. The use of and the experience of talking about 'your knife' gives you a chance to touch on that connection.

Sounds like BS...but I think, to point, that it's true.
 
Thanks Jason for your response. I know my post was less concrete than the "I'm in prison and miss my knives, so what kind should I have my wife smuggle in for me?" type.

I'm glad someone could relate.

Joe
 
I feel the same way about natural handles...they have character and warmth. Aside from the obvious Mammoth and Mastodon ivory, there are also other old natural handle materials. Boker has a nice Manfred Sachse damascus folder with 3,000 year old oak handles (I wonder if this came from a peat bog) and I have seen custom knives with dinosaur bone handles.
 
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