Speaking of Kiwis...

The Deacon

The Deacon

Joined
Apr 27, 2003
Messages
5,738
...this one just arrived yesterday from Santa Fe Stoneworks. Scales are stabilized birdseye maple, which I purchased from Chuck Bybee's Alpha Knife Supply and sent to Santa Fe. The pictures, while of decent quality, cannot really capture the most striking quality of this wood, called "chatoyance", which Chuck describes as follows:
Chatoyance is defined as "Having a changeable luster." It is a fancy word for the three dimensional effect you see in woods like curly or fiddleback maple.
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Whatever you call it, the effect is neat!

open_maple_kiwi.jpg
closed_maple_kiwi.jpg
 
Aka Tok said:
Nice knife. I wish I can have one in ivory scales.
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Thanks.

Bill Wirtel of Santa Fe does not really like working with "animal products". Understandable since most of his equipment is set up to cut and polish in a water bath to control the stone dust. He feels that the humidity levels in his shop, caused by that equipment, may make antler, bone, and ivory more succeptible to future cracking and checking, even when he works with it dry.

He will, however, do such work with customer supplied material, at the customer's risk. I have one in Sambar Stag he did for me. I've had it close to six months now and have carried it quite a bit with no problems so far. Heck, I use it for food prep then wash it off in the sink.

So, the bottom line is, if you really want one in ivory, it IS possible. In fact, I've been seriously thinking of finding a couple small pieces of stabilized mammoth ivory, and having SFSW do me up a Kiwi with it. You might want to consider that also. The "interior" stuff is sometimes just a bit darker than "modern" ivory, and you avoid the documentation hassles that might arise in international movement, proving the modern stuff is "pre-ban".
 
your kiwis are amazing, looks like you have found a nice niche to collect. I like em and I am not even that fond of the kiwi.
 
In order to have a custom inlay done, does it need to start off as a kiwi with the jigged bone? I ask because they are almost twice as much as regular stainless kiwis, and it doesn't make sense in spending more money, only to have the jigged bone replaced with something else. On the other hand, it would seem like a lot of work to grind down the stainless kiwi to accomodate an inlay. Anyways, how much does work like this typically cost, and what is the turnaround time? Thanks. Oh, by the way, NICE kiwis!
 
kyoung05 said:
In order to have a custom inlay done, does it need to start off as a kiwi with the jigged bone? I ask because they are almost twice as much as regular stainless kiwis, and it doesn't make sense in spending more money, only to have the jigged bone replaced with something else. On the other hand, it would seem like a lot of work to grind down the stainless kiwi to accomodate an inlay. Anyways, how much does work like this typically cost, and what is the turnaround time? Thanks. Oh, by the way, NICE kiwis!
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Fair questions. Short, simple answer is yes, it requires the jigged bone Kiwi as a starting point. For one thing, the all stainless version is MUCH thinner, as can be seen in the picture below.
kiwi_top_view.jpg
And, as you observed, the labor involved in grinding down the stainless to hold the inlays would make the end product cost more than using the more expensive "base". So it "makes sense" from that perspective, assuming you like the bolster and scales look of the Kiwi, but want something other than jigged bone for scales.

That top down view also shows another reason I love the Kiwis, excellent fit and finish.

Santa Fe charges $180 for Kiwis with most of the materials they regularly use, and $200 for one in dinosaur bone or black lip pearl. But, just as with Spydercos themselves, you can do better pricewise going through a dealer for them than you can when buying direct, assuming you can find the material you want. New Graham discounts them nicely, as do several other dealers. I've also picked up a couple on eBay a prices that pleasantly surprised me.

The Sambar Stag, Petoskey Stone, and Birdseye Maple ones were done using scale material I supplied. If I supply a Kiwi and scale material, Santa Fe charges $50 plus shipping to cut and install the scales.

None of them, except the all stainless one that was engraved for me by a gentleman in Great Britain named Marcus Hunt, cost me over $200, most cost considerably less. Bottom line is that if the cost seems excessive to you, I can understand, I never could see spending extra on whitewall tires when they were the rage.
 
Thanks for the info. I had no idea that the stainless kiwis were so much slimmer. I had a chance to handle one today at a store and kind of liked it. It would serve as my "sheeple" knife, since they seem to get disturbed by anything other than run-of-the-mill SAK. I'd carry something larger for emergency uses. So I take it that $180 includes the price of the knife? If so, do you have any idea how much they charge for supplying and installing scales they regularly use onto a kiwi you send them? Do they have a website so I can check out some of these materials? Thanks again!
 
Sal Glesser said:
Beautiful collection of Kiwi's Paul.

Nice pics as well.
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Thanks Sal, I love 'em.

kyoung05 said:
So I take it that $180 includes the price of the knife? If so, do you have any idea how much they charge for supplying and installing scales they regularly use onto a kiwi you send them? Do they have a website so I can check out some of these materials? Thanks again!
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Yes the $180 includes the Kiwi. I have never had them build one using my knife and their scales so I'm not really sure what the price for that would be. But, the Santa Fe Stonworks website has contact info on it, so am sure they could answer that for you.
 
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