- Joined
- Sep 28, 2003
- Messages
- 1,235
I posted this on the Best of 2007 thread .... but let me introduce her properly!
Anyone who knows my collecting habits will know that Rodrigo figures very high in my favourite short list of makers. Whilst exchanging mails earlier this year he happened to mention he was working on a variant of his Peck award winning nouveau integral pattern. He asked if I would be interested in it ........... bit of a strange question really, kind of like asking a bear where he'll be sh........! Anyway a few weeks later he sent me a picture with a very clear message that this would be a unique offering, the difficulty of the construction would preclude the possibility of any further orders. Shortly after telling him that if he sold it to anyone else there would be a contract on him, I remembered to ask him to explain a little more about the difficulties in the construction, his response was as follows:
"The knife is unique because I don't want to receive orders for it... The work on this knife is very tricky to make. It's hard to forge it, keeping the 90º angle of the handle to the blade, splitting the handle with the same curves on both sides... Grinding is also difficult, because the grinder does'nt reach every surfaces... Carving the nouveau design, fitting the wood perfectly... That's a kind of work I like to make without pressure of time and money... There's a lot of things that can go wrong, and if it does, I can put it aside and work in something else."
Needless to say, despite these difficulties Rodrigo has once again managed to deliver work of incredible technical and aesthetic achievement, and once more I am blown away by the step up in FnF which I previously thought to be MS standard on my earlier pieces from him. We have seen elsewhere the stunning integral bowies and fighters Rodrigo has produce, this piece in more inline with the Brazilian Gaucho type pieces, and goes to show just how versatile and talented this maker is.
I will let the picture do the rest of the talking, but first a summary of the specs:
Blade Length: 8in
OAL: 13 1/2 in
Steel: 52100
Handle: Rosewood Burl.
Construction: Full forged integral, hidden pins in handle.
Sheath: Leather with Shark Skin.
Anyone who knows my collecting habits will know that Rodrigo figures very high in my favourite short list of makers. Whilst exchanging mails earlier this year he happened to mention he was working on a variant of his Peck award winning nouveau integral pattern. He asked if I would be interested in it ........... bit of a strange question really, kind of like asking a bear where he'll be sh........! Anyway a few weeks later he sent me a picture with a very clear message that this would be a unique offering, the difficulty of the construction would preclude the possibility of any further orders. Shortly after telling him that if he sold it to anyone else there would be a contract on him, I remembered to ask him to explain a little more about the difficulties in the construction, his response was as follows:
"The knife is unique because I don't want to receive orders for it... The work on this knife is very tricky to make. It's hard to forge it, keeping the 90º angle of the handle to the blade, splitting the handle with the same curves on both sides... Grinding is also difficult, because the grinder does'nt reach every surfaces... Carving the nouveau design, fitting the wood perfectly... That's a kind of work I like to make without pressure of time and money... There's a lot of things that can go wrong, and if it does, I can put it aside and work in something else."
Needless to say, despite these difficulties Rodrigo has once again managed to deliver work of incredible technical and aesthetic achievement, and once more I am blown away by the step up in FnF which I previously thought to be MS standard on my earlier pieces from him. We have seen elsewhere the stunning integral bowies and fighters Rodrigo has produce, this piece in more inline with the Brazilian Gaucho type pieces, and goes to show just how versatile and talented this maker is.
I will let the picture do the rest of the talking, but first a summary of the specs:
Blade Length: 8in
OAL: 13 1/2 in
Steel: 52100
Handle: Rosewood Burl.
Construction: Full forged integral, hidden pins in handle.
Sheath: Leather with Shark Skin.
