Picture history of early CRK's

nickpp

nickpp

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Jun 11, 2005
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For a while now I've wanted to do a picture thread of the early hand made and custom knives made by Chris Reeve. Some of these were made in South Africa, others after the family and business move to the US.
They're an absolute collecting passion for me but I feel I've only scratched the surface! I'd love to see what else is around so please if you have any pictures please post them up.

Many of these have been saved from BF, Google, SABlade, BBlades and some from FB. Apologies for not attributing all pics to individuals but a major thank you to Steven65, Laizhekezhui, Hope, Pierre Dave.
Most of these are fixed blade as that's what Chris made in the early days. I may add the One Piece Knife range at a later point.
Anyway, pics....

Chris's very first knife. (Pic by Fooj)



One Piece Knife prototype. Picture by Fooj. From the Reeve collection.



For Helix Lock please see post 4......


Lock 45
Sal Glesser







Steven65


From SABlade



Ulu (Nick P)






Dana (Nick P)







Dana variant...... (Nick P)






Dana with MOP scales (hope1967)






Nick
 
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Sword (Chris Reeve)

Additional information, all hail Fooj:)

"The top one is in Chris and Anne's collection, and is called the Mise’ricorde – means in French, putting a person out of misery. Some specs:
13” blade, 17” overall
classic dagger blade with reinforced point. Was designed to pierce chain mail and put a fallen soldier out of his misery on the battlefield.
Elephant ivory and ebony on handle fittings of blued mild steel w/ high lead content fittings and sterling silver.
440B steel
sheath is african blackwood lined with velvet, mild steel & ivory fittings
Chris made this knife in 1986"







Additional information supplied via the legendary Fooj....

"The next one is one of Chris's customs that has not been named. It's a combination flat/hollow grind out of CPM154CM, with Ti and 22 karat gold fittings w/ braided rayon handle wrap. Blade length = 10”, overall length is 17”. Chris originally sold this fine piece to Neil Ostroff."




Poor pictures of a knife on EBay several years ago...

EbayKnives1225Medium.jpg

EbayKnives1228Medium.jpg



No idea of this model




Outergral









A more modern version made as a one off by Chris and signed not stamped








Sent from my iPad
 
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Chris Reeve Helix Lock.....
A refinement upon the Opinel knife. Instead of a parallel collar it uses a collar with a flat base and a slight taper or spiral on the upper face which contacts the blade. Therefore when the knife is open and the collar rotated it tightens up and removes any blade play:)

Picture and knife Laizhekezhui




Nick P



Hope1967


Steven65


Unknown



Mike Van Grouw




 
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I really appreciate what your doing here... I hope you can get them all to work! Cheers toward you
 
Carving set Dean Felides...







Cutlery set Nick P






This cutlery set was the centre piece of the display at a knife show. It also featured in “Knives Illustrated” spring 1989 which is where this picture originates. Made for a friend of Chris and Anne before the move to USA.

Made from 440C stainless steel with Whale ivory handles and sand/bead blasted titanium fittings. My crappy pictures truly don't do this sublime set justice.
Some guy by the name of Tim Reeve has a CR business card of this era and the outline of this cutlery set is the logo:) Not sure where he pinched it from;)


Steak knives Nick P




Wonderful old kitchen knife Pierre Dave



 
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Steven65 said:
Great thread Nick. By the way mate I am Steven65:D (the year I was born:))

Here is one of mine you missed..........

IMG_3884.jpg



IMG_3882.jpg
Click to expand...

Hey Steven. (65) yeah I new that.... doh! lol. How you keeping fella? I had got a small pic of that one on the second post but it's great to have the full size original! Lovely knife! The clog sheath is a work or art too.
What model is the knife?
 
Rarest 4 early folders handmade by Chris: Helix, Lock 45, Titanium folder (Sebenza predecessor), H Sebenza.

Rarest%20folders%20laizhekezhui_zpsos0htcdl.jpg
 
nickpp said:
Hey Steven. (65) yeah I new that.... doh! lol. How you keeping fella? I had got a small pic of that one on the second post but it's great to have the full size original! Lovely knife! The clog sheath is a work or art too.
What model is the knife?
Click to expand...


Hi Nick all well here mate. Compliments of the season to you.

I honestly don't recall what Chris called this one. I don't know if I still have the Birth card but if I find it in the future I'll let you know.

For everyone that is interested in Chris's customs I have a request..........

In 1984 I was living in Johannesburg and I designed a large sub-hilt fighter with a 8" blade.

In 1986 I showed the design to Chris and he made it for me. It had Ivory slabs and a two piece titanium hilt and sub-hilt marked number 1. In '88 after a disastrous financial year I was forced to sell it in the U.S. along with most of my collection. (very regrettable but sometimes life is like that)

It would be one of the rarest knives Chris ever made but as I designed it I would love a picture of it as I do not have one and the drawing is long gone.
So if anyone out there has it or knows where it is please drop me a line, I would love to see it again.
 
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This thread is amazing.

Plenty of models I would have not known existed so thank you to all that contribute. I'll be following along with alot of interest.
 
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