Persian Flame by Bailey Bradshaw, MS

RogerP

RogerP

Joined
Feb 28, 2002
Messages
13,348
Greetings all,

This piece was my latest order from Bailey. The specs were quite broad - a Persian-style fighter with a damascus blade in the 11", ivory handle and engraved fittings. I didn't have a real specific idea of what I wanted the knife to look like and was happy to let Bailey render his concept and make that the starting point.

Here was the frst draft:

orig.jpg


I liked it quite a bit, and while I didn't have a straight knife in mind at all, I thought a little less curve overall would better suit my personal aesthetic preference. Trailing point a litte lower, dropped handle a little higher and we're there. Persian-lite, as we came to call it.

Bailey had the knife ready to deliver at the Blade Show as planned:

orig.jpg


Specs on the knife are as follows:

  • Blade length of 11" with an overall length just under 16"
  • multi-bar Turkish twist damascus for the blade - 1075 / L6
  • bark mammoth ivory handle with terrific colour and texture
  • blued, engraved and gold-inlayed steel fittings
  • full take-down construction.

There was no way I was going to leave the presentation of this piece to my show-floor pic, though. I asked Coop to do his thing:

orig.jpg


I named this piece "Persian Flame" because my first reaction upon seeing it was that the gold-inlaid guard looked like it was on fire.

As always, it was a pleasure working with Bailey and it is a joy to have this piece on my desk where I can readily admire all the terrific details.

Thanks for looking and reading.

Roger
 
Roger, I think you chose wisely!

I liked the drawing, but i like your changes even more. Bailey is SO talented.

Congrats.
 
Roger, I think you chose wisely!

I liked the drawing, but i like your changes even more. Bailey is SO talented, he pulled it off incredibly.

Congrats.
 
Wow Roger, what a nice looking knife by Bailey. I really admire his work, (very diverse design wise.) He seems to do everything so well... I would love to own a Bradshaw piece someday.. Congrat's on this fine addition to your collection..Best, Rich
 
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A Superb Fighter.
A good example where maker and collector sharing thoughts on design can have positive results.
Really like how Bailey contoured the ivory at the guard transition.
Great pattern and execution of the multi-bar damascus and outstanding ivory selection. I would have preferred the upper guard to have less curvature placing it farther from the blade spine.

Congrats to both of you.
 
Congrats to both of you..........that Bailey guy is something else! ;)
 
Y'all are going to make me blush:p

Many thanks to Roger for the patronage. He really is great to deal with.

And of course thanks to Coop for the great work on the photos.
 
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