- Joined
- Sep 28, 2003
- Messages
- 1,235
Every so often I find that my interest in Custom knives can wain, not to the point of selling up, though I have been close once or twice, but more to the point that I consider not placing any new orders and looking for a simpler, and possibly not so quite indulgent, distraction from the harshness of reality and day to day career survival. I have been at such a point in recent months ............. but not anymore!
Yesterday saw the arrival of my long awaited and much anticipated integral bowie from Rodrigo Sfreddo, and after 3 long weeks of scrutiny by the local customs officials they were kind enough to forward my property to me for its rightful owner to appraise. I don't know about you guys, but no matter how old I get I always get excited by the prospect of an imminent delivery, trying to guess what day the postal worker will deem me worthy of their attention and hoping that the contents have faired better than the unfailingly abused outer box. So you can imagine the level of frustration I felt as I sat in an 8 km traffic jam heading away from Schiphol airport and got the message from my loving wife: "Another one of your toys has arrived! How much this time? Hope your going to sell one!" . 2 hours later , before saying hello to the Kids and the dog, I have the box in my hands with that dreaded tape on "Opened by Customs" ....... so how many finger prints this time, is it back in its case? Has it got any rust from the long sit in a customs warehouse? Boy it worries me when I see that tape, but this time I needn't have been concerned, Rodrigo had covered the blade in oil and wrapped it in cling film, the same with the handle, guard, then it had been placed in its sheath and again wrapped in copious amounts of cling film ..... perfect - customs guys can see what it is, they never remove the film, and its protected from the elements and oily fingers.
If you don't own one of Rodrigos knives (you should believe me) then you won't know that each one is sent in its own hand sewn fabric bag, lined with felt and closed by a draw string, together with the knife and sheath the bag contains a printed lifetime warranty certificate, which on the reverse contains the hand written details of your particular knife, this is a fantastic touch and conveys a sense of pride and importance in the work you have received, I wish more makers would do this. After seeing the knife was in the cling film I relaxed and read the accompanying certificate, here are the details as described there in:
MODEL: Integral Turkish Bowie
TYPE: Drop Point Bowie
BLADE LENGTH: 10 in
OAL: 15 in
STEEL: 01/15N20 Turkish twists damascus with integral construction.
HANDLE: Mammoth Ivory with coin edge spacers and domed pins.
SHEATH: Leather with high relief sharkskin inlay and damascus frog.
I must confess to having quite a deliberate and consistent way of appraising a new knife, taking my time to check the details before standing back and admiring the whole. This was piece was no different, I started by removing the cling film for the sheath , slowly withdrawing the knife, but then before unwrapping it I appraise the sheath. Rodrigos leather work is fantastic and is as deliberate and considered as his knives. This sheath is one of the nicest I have had from him, rich brown leather, inset with dark brown dyed shark skin, finished off with a damascus twist frog from the same billet as the knife .... the finishing touch a stainless hand peened pin ..... its worth a photo in its own right:
Sheath:
Putting the sheath down I start to carefully unwrap the film covered knife its self ...... my mind rushes with the usual check points, is the guard true, is the file work and embellishment finished cleanly and evenly, is there symmetry in the scales, and as this is a frame handle, are the spacers flush, is the frame centred .... no worries, its a Sfreddo ... he has even tapered the frame and offset it with coin edge spacers ..... have a look:
Frame:
Earlier in the process Rodrigo had informed me a a few problems, he lost the first attempt to a crack in the heat treat, the second integral the guard was out of position, and in the third there was an mislabled piece of steel got into the mix, so this was the fourth attempt (with integrals its back to scratch each time a mistake is made ... which also accounts for the price ....). During this "learning" process he fitted the scales a couple of times and ultimately the holes for the pins became oversized ...... being the professional he is he reached for the only alternative he had, a pair of mammoth scales he had selected for one of his MS test knives, I was anxious to see what these look likes and I was not disappointed, caramel, coffee with cream, blue and green, these scales are rich and warm and offset by a turkish twist escutcheon. The Integral bolster is fluted and offset with coin edge spacers, the guard has a fluted edge and bow:
Scales, bolster & Guard:
I paw over the whole knife now checking the grinds and symmetry, flatness of surfaces and trueness of angles .... as usual Rodrigo delivers, but the best was yet to come .... as I first unwrap the entire blade, I try to wipe the oil of to see the blade with out the sheen of the oil ....... but I couldn't ...... the shimmering reflection and dancing waves of light where not the oil, but the knife itself ..... this damascus is truly spectacular, hold it one way you get the flat but wonderful twisted contrast of the etched O1 against the bright 15N20, turn the blade and WOW, your looking a the surface of a gently flowing brook on a summers afternoon. I took my time photographing this one .... I hope you enjoy.
Cheers,
Stephen
Yesterday saw the arrival of my long awaited and much anticipated integral bowie from Rodrigo Sfreddo, and after 3 long weeks of scrutiny by the local customs officials they were kind enough to forward my property to me for its rightful owner to appraise. I don't know about you guys, but no matter how old I get I always get excited by the prospect of an imminent delivery, trying to guess what day the postal worker will deem me worthy of their attention and hoping that the contents have faired better than the unfailingly abused outer box. So you can imagine the level of frustration I felt as I sat in an 8 km traffic jam heading away from Schiphol airport and got the message from my loving wife: "Another one of your toys has arrived! How much this time? Hope your going to sell one!" . 2 hours later , before saying hello to the Kids and the dog, I have the box in my hands with that dreaded tape on "Opened by Customs" ....... so how many finger prints this time, is it back in its case? Has it got any rust from the long sit in a customs warehouse? Boy it worries me when I see that tape, but this time I needn't have been concerned, Rodrigo had covered the blade in oil and wrapped it in cling film, the same with the handle, guard, then it had been placed in its sheath and again wrapped in copious amounts of cling film ..... perfect - customs guys can see what it is, they never remove the film, and its protected from the elements and oily fingers.
If you don't own one of Rodrigos knives (you should believe me) then you won't know that each one is sent in its own hand sewn fabric bag, lined with felt and closed by a draw string, together with the knife and sheath the bag contains a printed lifetime warranty certificate, which on the reverse contains the hand written details of your particular knife, this is a fantastic touch and conveys a sense of pride and importance in the work you have received, I wish more makers would do this. After seeing the knife was in the cling film I relaxed and read the accompanying certificate, here are the details as described there in:
MODEL: Integral Turkish Bowie
TYPE: Drop Point Bowie
BLADE LENGTH: 10 in
OAL: 15 in
STEEL: 01/15N20 Turkish twists damascus with integral construction.
HANDLE: Mammoth Ivory with coin edge spacers and domed pins.
SHEATH: Leather with high relief sharkskin inlay and damascus frog.
I must confess to having quite a deliberate and consistent way of appraising a new knife, taking my time to check the details before standing back and admiring the whole. This was piece was no different, I started by removing the cling film for the sheath , slowly withdrawing the knife, but then before unwrapping it I appraise the sheath. Rodrigos leather work is fantastic and is as deliberate and considered as his knives. This sheath is one of the nicest I have had from him, rich brown leather, inset with dark brown dyed shark skin, finished off with a damascus twist frog from the same billet as the knife .... the finishing touch a stainless hand peened pin ..... its worth a photo in its own right:
Sheath:
Putting the sheath down I start to carefully unwrap the film covered knife its self ...... my mind rushes with the usual check points, is the guard true, is the file work and embellishment finished cleanly and evenly, is there symmetry in the scales, and as this is a frame handle, are the spacers flush, is the frame centred .... no worries, its a Sfreddo ... he has even tapered the frame and offset it with coin edge spacers ..... have a look:
Frame:
Earlier in the process Rodrigo had informed me a a few problems, he lost the first attempt to a crack in the heat treat, the second integral the guard was out of position, and in the third there was an mislabled piece of steel got into the mix, so this was the fourth attempt (with integrals its back to scratch each time a mistake is made ... which also accounts for the price ....). During this "learning" process he fitted the scales a couple of times and ultimately the holes for the pins became oversized ...... being the professional he is he reached for the only alternative he had, a pair of mammoth scales he had selected for one of his MS test knives, I was anxious to see what these look likes and I was not disappointed, caramel, coffee with cream, blue and green, these scales are rich and warm and offset by a turkish twist escutcheon. The Integral bolster is fluted and offset with coin edge spacers, the guard has a fluted edge and bow:
Scales, bolster & Guard:
I paw over the whole knife now checking the grinds and symmetry, flatness of surfaces and trueness of angles .... as usual Rodrigo delivers, but the best was yet to come .... as I first unwrap the entire blade, I try to wipe the oil of to see the blade with out the sheen of the oil ....... but I couldn't ...... the shimmering reflection and dancing waves of light where not the oil, but the knife itself ..... this damascus is truly spectacular, hold it one way you get the flat but wonderful twisted contrast of the etched O1 against the bright 15N20, turn the blade and WOW, your looking a the surface of a gently flowing brook on a summers afternoon. I took my time photographing this one .... I hope you enjoy.
Cheers,
Stephen
Beautiful piece and excellent write-up. I sympathize with Rodrigo for the challenges along the way, but the end result is something really special. Congrats to you both!
