Van Barnett Small Gents..

rbslaughter1

rbslaughter1

Joined
Feb 15, 2006
Messages
362
I took this photo some time ago, but I'm pretty sure I have never shown anyone but Coop, just for fun.. Van did everything on this little lockback, made the steel, and did the french gray engraving.... The Sea Snail inserts are wonderful, and it seems to have become much
more rare these days. In bright daylight they look "milky" and deep like an opal would..

Hope you enjoy checking it out............ Best, Rich
orig.jpg


Coop does a very cool shot of this one showing all area's, and a closed profile.. Thanks for the picture Jim..
orig.jpg
 
That's a beauty, Rich. Please educate me about sea snail. I've never seen or heard of it being used in a knife before (you're talking about marine snails with shells, not nudibranchs, right?).
 
HTMD said:
you're talking about marine snails with shells, not nudibranchs, right?.
Click to expand...

Hello Buddy,

Nudibranchs are shell-less Mollusks. There are those that leave
silverish slimy trails on land or the marine species that can be very
colorful but have no shell at all....

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)

Here is an example of a 1" long Red Sea marine Nudibranch
photographed underwater in 1970....
IMG0014_3.jpg
 
Last edited:
rbslaughter1 said:
Van did everything on this little lockback, made the steel, and did the french gray engraving....
Click to expand...

One of the beautiful "straightforward" folders Van made in his "early" days.
Should send him the picture to get more specific information...

All the best,
David Darom (ddd)
 
Thanks to all who left a post. Buddy, I did a little checking on the sea snail, and here's what I found. It is very rare, and is not currently offered for sale anywhere that I could find. It was also referred to as "White Abalone" even though it was considered a snail. It's flesh was a delicacy, and was super expensive. This, along with the shells being used for jewelry, soon made it hard to find large ones. I read that some actually grew to be 15" or so. The most common areas where it was harvested were down south in reefs around New Zealand and Australia..

Every knife I could find using it as scale material appeared to have been made years ago, as DDD mentioned this folder was.. Maybe some makers that used to see, or use it, could eleborate.. Thanks all, Rich
 
Hi Rich,

I barely remember that one, but the iridescence of the sea snail is unmistakable. I'd be proud, too! :)

Coop
 
Hi Buddy,
Snails with shells. Green sea snails Not so much rare as finding them large enough to get scales out of. The shell has a green crust on it at start which buffs up real nice itself once the crust is removed it does have a opal like look as Coop said. I found two sets years back and have just recently found where to buy shells. I hope to be able to get 1 scale per shell than there would be quite a few pieces big enough for inlays.

All the Best
Cliff Parker
 
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