Sheaths and a Gifted Bowie Maker

I hate making knife sheaths and so do some knife makers I guess. Here is a trio of knives that need sheaths and I suppose if I want them I’ll have to make them.  Yes I could mail the knives off to a sheath maker and hope they don’t get lost or stolen. Then wait many months for them to return, hopefully. I just don’t like the odds. Perhaps in a later post I’ll show the finished sheaths.

The smallest knife is by my good friend Matt Lamey and was featured in another post I did about cutting tests and a new definition of sharp. The mid-sized one is by a favorite maker of mine, Kent Hicks.

The largest knife just arrived this weekend. It was hand crafted by Justin Carnecchia of Wrenco Forge. Prior to seeing this knife on Ebay I had never heard of this talented maker. The letter that came with the knife says that Justin specializes in Bowie, Hunting, and Japanese Kitchen knives. My kind of maker! It also said he specializes in clay hardened blades and Japanese style hamon. No joke! This hamon is shear artistry. The polish on the blade would please any connoisseur of Japanaese swords.

 The ten inch plus blade is forged from W-2 steel. The billowing clouds hamon is absolutely stunning. Overall the knife is delicate in its proportions. It epitomizes what I refer to as a fencer’s Bowie, one that would emphasize thrusting over hacking. But the blade is anything but delicate, being a stout ¼ inch thick. A graceful blued Damascus steel guard is backed by a nicely-executed damascus ferrule with two seppa-style brass spacers.  Made from figured mesquite burl, the handle is elegantly contoured to fit your hand and finish off an altogether exquisite Bowie knife. I suggest you contact this man and see what he can build for you. I might just have to contact him about a Japanese style Osoraku Zukuri fighting knife myself.

His contact info is wrencoforge@hotmail.com or call him at 208 263-9425 to discuss the knife of your dreams. I am positive Justin can make it happen.

 

Desecration of an Ideal

This is the new Obama flag. For $35 you can buy a print from the white house. This is obscene! It is a disgraceful display of hubris, unmitigated arrogance, and disrespect for what the American flag stands for and all of the people who have fought for and those who died to defend the values it represents. I cannot begin to verbalize my complete and utter contempt for this image and the nacissistic man behind it. He continually diminishes the office he fills. Truly "the emperor has no clothes!"

My grandfather and 2 great uncles fought in WW-I. My father, brother, and I served during Vietnam. This is not the flag we served under, it is an abberation and borders on the illegal. Vote your conscience, follow your gut, not Party, Race, or Color. Vote for a Free America

price reduction

Click on the post of knives for sale and find something you like. Email me at ghdave2@hotmail.com and I will take $25 off the price and ship it poastage  paid to your door (CONUS) only.

A Fistfull of Power

Ever try coming up with a benign weapon that you can carry without incuring felony charges? Have you ever heard of a "yawara" or a  "kubotan?" A yawara is nothing more than a stick five to six inches long that may be made from any tough material. It is used to strike, punch, rake,  or apply pressure to sensitive points on the body. I  have trained many students to use one. Our training kubotan were simple pieces of broom handle cut to length. Any hard wood will do but I wanted to buy some for my family to carry when they are working or travelling and I wanted something a little special.

Sooo. I did what any red-blooded American would do and started searching the internet. (Thank you Al Gore for inventing it so I could find things.) Here is a photo from a blogsite TiSurvival that offers all sorts of neat kubotan, small containers, and chopsticks made from titanium. Sure I could have bought some off ebay made from titanium if I wanted to get them from China. Remember.....I am boycotting chinese goods. Besides who wants to pay the shipping, wait however long, and hope they don't get lost or  confiscated by some over exuberant DHS agent.

These are really sweet tools for defense and have an artistic flair. The maker is Esteban and here is where to check out his products. http://tisurvival.com/products/kubatons/ You won't find any nicer guy to deal with and he had these to my door super quick. The two knurled sections add substantially to the gripping surface and one end is drilled for a thong. His prices are not cheap but they are high quality and in line with what a lot of people are charging. Contact Esteban for some really nice products at fair prices and excellent service.

Handgun Class

I'm all signed up for this October Handgun II class and looking forward to a fun and chilly weekend in West Virginia. This is the same school I went to for precision rifle training last summer and had such a great time. Check it out. Nice folks to deal with. During the first day of rifle class my harris bipod took a dump. Within ten minutes they brought me a new one which they "loaned" me to get me going again. Thats the sort of people they are. Beautiful country and good people who love guns what more could you ask for? http://www.stormmountain.com/media/training/HandgunI_IICourse.pdf

Here is the link to the home page.     http://www.stormmountain.com/

This link takes you to a nice power-point of the facilities.  http://www.stormmountain.com/media/facility/09.pdf

The Mideast meltdown

May God comfort and be with the relatives and loved ones of those murdered in Libya and may St. Michael watch over all our brave people who serve in foreign lands.

Fairbairn Sykes Website

It is a rainy day here in western NY. So I decided to add more material to our Fairbairn website. We are getting 20-30 visits a day which is terrific! We are also getting interesting contacts from people all over the world. I guess that means people are liking what they see. Today I have added some more information and better photos of Australian knives. This was prompted by an email from a 2 Cdo Veteran from Australia concerning the photo we had posted. So if you go to our website, WW-II Commando Knives, Variants, Australian knives you’ll see what we added.

Next I have to take more photos of the ubiquitous third pattern and post them, along with more info. There were over 250,000 made by war’s end so they are the most common of the British Commando knives. Some were better than others, a lot better. The better ones are discernible by the marks stamped into their cross guards and the “mysterious flat on the blade. We discuss all of this on the website so I won’t repeat it all here. There are a lot of wive’s tales out there about Commando knives and I cringe every time I read some of it on the forums. Some people prefer to repeat unfounded trash rather than do a little honest research. Hopefully our site will rebut some of the foolishness. There are a lot of good books out there and some not so good. A few that have been reprinted several times that still have erroneous labeling or information. We are playing with the idea of publishing our own book. It will be different by the detail which we intend to provide, the minutiae as we call it on our website. How can you tell whether that knife you are preparing to buy is really a rare variant or something cobbled together by some entrepreneur? Hopefully we can provide you with the knowledge to buy safely and wisely. When we began our foray into this field there were no counterfeits. The volume of original knives available cheaply did not make forgery lucrative. Today that is changing as I see more and more knives that have been messed with, tampered with and called “rare specimens.”

So follow our website and get some insight, (sounds like an advertising jingle) into the fascinating world of the Fairbairn Sykes Fighting Knife and its progeny. We will be taking a poll in the near future of people who might be interested in a book and keeping a list for future production/sales if you like.

http://www.fairbairnsykesfightingknives.com/

KNIFE SALE

KNIFE SALE

OK! Here are a few knives for sale from the old White Shadow Dojo Inventory. These are unused, never cut with fighting knives of the first quality. I saved a couple out for myself including one of the large hawkbills. I changed my mind and will include shipping and handling in these prices.  Once these are gone we have no more. As I said the first "I will take it" by the time-date gets the knife. Payment can be by USPS Money Order or Paypal. Sorry, I am not set up to take credit cards. Why am I selling these off? To pay for my spate of knife purchases including the Dozier Crossada. I hope there is something here that strikes your fancy. If not I will list more in a week or so.

CONTACT ME @  ghdave2@hotmail.com AND put "Knife Sale" in the subject so I know its not trash or spam. Thanks

Steven Tedford Bowie: $250 This is one of Canadian maker Steven Tedford's early knives. The knife has a nice Amboyna (sp) burl handle and nickle silver guard. The carbon steel clip point blade is very sharp and nicely proportioned. I have the price this low because the sheath, while robust and functional, is a little crude. Make your self a new sheath and have a fine Bowie for a reasonable price by a custom maker. Blade is 8 inches OAL is 13 inches. A nice handy sized Bowie.

ITAC Series LargeRecurve: $350 A real sweet recurve knife, fast in the hand. Comes with the leather covered kydex sheath and zippered pouch. ITAC series features full tang construction, real hamon and 8 inch blade. The handle is wrapped with beautiful same gawa (ray skin) and leather over wrap. A nice large chrysanthemum menuki graces one side. The knife is 13.25 inches OAL. These knives are really top quality!

All of the ITAC handles are like this one!! The leather wrap is very comfortable and gives a nice grip.

ITAC Series Small Hawkbill: $325 Comes with the leather covered kydex sheath and zippered pouch. ITAC series features full tang construction, real hamon and5 inch blade. The handle is wrapped with beautiful same gawa and leather over wrap. A nice large chrysanthemum menuki graces one side. The knife is 10.25 inches OAL. These knives are really top quality!

ITAC Series Large Hawkbill: $350 Comes with the leather covered kydex sheath and zippered pouch. ITAC series features full tang construction, real hamon and 6.25 inch blade. The handle is wrapped with beautiful same gawa and leather over wrap. A nice large chrysanthemum menuki graces one side. The knife is 12 inches OAL. These knives are really top quality!

Brent Sandow Viper: $275 with kydex sheath and zippered case. This knife is made by Brent Sandow of Auchalnd New Zealand, A member of their guild and long time knife maker. Blade is 5 inches double edged D-2 with black milspec coating. Grey miacarta handles held by three screws and epoxy. Full tang and10.5 inches overall.

I will post more knives next week once I have time to take photos. Thanks for looking!!