Rod "Caribou" Chappel Folding Knife

[Arathol]

A Arathol How familiar are you with Rod Chappel's work there, bud?

I remember seeing his work some time ago, never was much interested in that style stuff. Doesn't really matter though. This knife wasn't made by him. Its just a factory made Puma folder thats had all of its identifying markings removed and replaced with the name of a person who didn't actually make the knife. Without some sort of provenance, the engraving is just a name on a knife.....If this knife was in a case in a pawn shop or offered for sale at a local gun shop, how many people are there that would even know that name today?
Rule #1 - Buy the knife, not the story......

 

[Sam Wilson]

The same could be true of many collectible items that have been sold through pawn shops or yard sales, because the person wasn't of high notoriety at the time. That being said, we don't know why he put his name there and removed the factory markings (if he even did), the customer may have even requested it as mentioned earlier.

The real point is though when you find people who know what they're looking at, Chappel's work is worth far more than Puma factory work. Especially to a collector of Rod's work, many of which are die-hard.

Look up what his custom knives go for, versus Pumas.

Sam

I remember seeing his work some time ago, never was much interested in that style stuff. Doesn't really matter though. This knife wasn't made by him. Its just a factory made Puma folder thats had all of its identifying markings removed and replaced with the name of a person who didn't actually make the knife. Without some sort of provenance, the engraving is just a name on a knife.....If this knife was in a case in a pawn shop or offered for sale at a local gun shop, how many people are there that would even know that name today?
Rule #1 - Buy the knife, not the story......

 

[Arathol]

The same could be true of many collectible items that have been sold through pawn shops or yard sales, because the person wasn't of high notoriety at the time. That being said, we don't know why he put his name there and removed the factory markings (if he even did), the customer may have even requested it as mentioned earlier.

The real point is though when you find people who know what they're looking at, Chappel's work is worth far more than Puma factory work. Especially to a collector of Rod's work, many of which are die-hard.

Look up what his custom knives go for, versus Pumas.

Sam

The whole point here is this is not a custom knife made by Rod Chappel. You can't compare using his original works as a reference. Are there similar modified Puma knives? As said, we don't know why his name is on the blade. Thats the provenance that is lacking. We don't even know who put the name on the blade or when, let alone why....
As far as that goes, would you take a factory knife, modify it, remove the makers markings and put your name on it instead? The factory markings should be retained for ethical reasons at least.....

 

[Sam Wilson]

OK then. My point was simply in your comment originally you made it almost seem as though Rod lowered the value of the knife. He has a strong following, even after he passed. If anything, that increased the value of that Puma knife.

Custom or not, there are people that collect things that Rod did. That is the point.

When you bring up things like ethical, that's why I commented. That knife may have already had the markings ground off for all we know. Anyway, none of this really matters. Now you know a little bit more about Rod Chappel's work.

If it's legit work, which could be verified fairly easily, I would be willing to bet that it's worth more than just a regular Puma folder of the period. That's all. Nothing much else to say about it.

Sam

The whole point here is this is not a custom knife made by Rod Chappel. You can't compare using his original works as a reference. Are there similar modified Puma knives? As said, we don't know why his name is on the blade. Thats the provenance that is lacking. We don't even know who put the name on the blade or when, let alone why....
As far as that goes, would you take a factory knife, modify it, remove the makers markings and put your name on it instead? The factory markings should be retained for ethical reasons at least.....

 

[tltt]

To be fair to Chappel, the reworking seems more extensive than first thought. Here's a mint 71 Game Warden, no real stamp to keep after a high regrind. "Puma" up in the corner was probably the best place to engrave it -

https://seek-unique-co.s3.amazonaws...j3-uEHU73t22/stock/612ff765ba86a_3_28473h.jpg.

https://seek-unique-co.s3.amazonaws...j3-uEHU73t22/stock/612ff760dfc84_3_28473e.jpg.

 

[fishface5]

FWIW, Rod Chappelle was known for his insanely sharp convex grinds

 

[TAH]

If it's legit work, which could be verified fairly easily, I would be willing to bet that it's worth more than just a regular Puma folder of the period.

Hi Sam,

Cisco Gallery has the Chappel/Puma listed for $1100. Probably not worth that much, but a few hundred to a collector realistically. I was into Chappel knives for awhile. I think the knife is pretty cool and the signature on the blade is classic Chappel all the way. G.W. Stone occasionally did the same thing. He would put one of his blades on a Buck 110 or 112 frame. Must have been a 70s thing.

 

[fishface5]

Collectors be crazy. Look at the premium folks pay for a PDW version of a production knife.

 

[Sam Wilson]

TAH Thanks Tom, I meant to tag you when I first replied to this thread, I remembered you being a big fan of Herron and Chappel, and some others. Good points, and thanks for weighing in. I have some mutual friends with Chappel, and they thought it looked authentic also, so good call.

Dude definitely had some wicked grinds and bold style.

Sam

Hi Sam,

Cisco Gallery has the Chappel/Puma listed for $1100. Probably not worth that much, but a few hundred to a collector realistically. I was into Chappel knives for awhile. I think the knife is pretty cool and the signature on the blade is classic Chappel all the way. G.W. Stone occasionally did the same thing. He would put one of his blades on a Buck 110 or 112 frame. Must have been a 70s thing.

 

[TAH]

Sam Wilson BTW, Sam, I still enjoy your email updates, new product releases, and videos. Your stuff keeps getting better and better. First class all the way! Stay well, my friend.

 

[Sam Wilson]

TAH Thanks Tom, a lot of work and a lot of cool stuff coming out! Much appreciated, and I wish you and your family the best also!

Sam

 

[Locutus D'Borg]

Thank you both! I don't really want to set up an image viewing account, so I think I'm going to pass on sharing the photos. Thanks for the tip!

I can move this post to the what it's worth thread, but I'm really mostly wondering if anyone else has seen these Chappel folding knives before. I can delete the sentence asking if anyone knows what it's worth too, as we have a pretty good idea on pricing already. Thank you both again!

I have no connection to BF corporate (aka Spark ) but you should consider a paying membership. You can place images directly to your post, buy and sell knives on our celebrated Exchange, and support this vibrant community. Just a thought.