BACKGROUND ON WALLY HAYES:
Wally Hayes is an ABS Master Smith and president of the Canadian Knifemakers' Guild. He lives and works out of a little town near Ottawa, Ontario. He forges his own damascus and works a variety of steels, and I have examles of his work inf O1 and 52100, which is particularly nice. But his damascus is extraordinary. He busies himself nowadays with swords and higher end blades somewhat out of my range, but he does make a few simpler knives and I understand he's working on an affordable tactical line. Wally's big camp knife was one of the very few that performed exceptionally well in the Knives Illustrated performance test in 1997. That's why I first became interested in his work. Only later did I see his tantos and damascus work. A great combination if you can get it, great performance and great looks, like me
. [sorry, couldn't help myself]
THE KNIFE:
The knife is 14" OAL of which about 7.5" is blade. About 400 layers, proper tanto blade, and wrapped and epoxied over rayskin. I will add further details of the steel composition etc. later, but for now let me say that it is incredibly light and fast in the hand, sharp, of course - and absolutely beautiful.
The picture that I have attempted to post below does no justice at all to the knife but a better picture should be available on Wally's new site in a few weeks. The damascus pattern is much more well defined and extends unbroken throughout the entire length of the blade. Heck, even my wife thought it was beautiful, and she usually hates my knives. The leather sheath is simple but nice, but Wally is very accomodating to reasonable custom specs.I understand a similar knife might be made for about $500, but anyone interested should contact Wally directly. I've tried to hyperlink to his site as well. This is a great knifemaker and a great guy. I love this knife!
Hereafter, my attempts to post picture and hyperlink:
www.hayesknives.com
[This message has been edited by HJK (edited 04-13-2000).]
Wally Hayes is an ABS Master Smith and president of the Canadian Knifemakers' Guild. He lives and works out of a little town near Ottawa, Ontario. He forges his own damascus and works a variety of steels, and I have examles of his work inf O1 and 52100, which is particularly nice. But his damascus is extraordinary. He busies himself nowadays with swords and higher end blades somewhat out of my range, but he does make a few simpler knives and I understand he's working on an affordable tactical line. Wally's big camp knife was one of the very few that performed exceptionally well in the Knives Illustrated performance test in 1997. That's why I first became interested in his work. Only later did I see his tantos and damascus work. A great combination if you can get it, great performance and great looks, like me
THE KNIFE:
The knife is 14" OAL of which about 7.5" is blade. About 400 layers, proper tanto blade, and wrapped and epoxied over rayskin. I will add further details of the steel composition etc. later, but for now let me say that it is incredibly light and fast in the hand, sharp, of course - and absolutely beautiful.
The picture that I have attempted to post below does no justice at all to the knife but a better picture should be available on Wally's new site in a few weeks. The damascus pattern is much more well defined and extends unbroken throughout the entire length of the blade. Heck, even my wife thought it was beautiful, and she usually hates my knives. The leather sheath is simple but nice, but Wally is very accomodating to reasonable custom specs.I understand a similar knife might be made for about $500, but anyone interested should contact Wally directly. I've tried to hyperlink to his site as well. This is a great knifemaker and a great guy. I love this knife!
Hereafter, my attempts to post picture and hyperlink:
www.hayesknives.com
[This message has been edited by HJK (edited 04-13-2000).]
