Who made this knife?

[Otter6412]

I just received this custom knife for Christmas. No information came with it. The giver is not available. Can anyone tell me anything about this fine knife?

Thanks


Otter

[Ray Rogers]

Unless someone here recognizes it as the work of a particular maker there isn't much we can say beyond comments on its appearance.

It looks to me like whoever made it intended it to be a 'period' knife and therefore the crude looking work was probably by design. The guard and butt cap appear to be copper or maybe bronze with a patina. The splotchy look of the blades may come from being heat treated in a coal fire and it was left there to make it look old. The edge appears to have been sharpened freehand on a belt sander. The sheath is bound in rawhide with an inlay of reptile (alligator?). Cool handle.

No one can just look at it and say whether or not the heat treatment the blade received was effective or not. Can't say what kind of steel it is either. Could be mild steel from a hardware store or a nice high carbon blade steel, just can't say. There's no maker's mark on it - and I assume there isn't one on the other side either or you would have shown it - so, boys and girls, and all you Newbie knife makers reading this - here you have a perfect example why you want to mark your blades so that people can find you AND it's always a good idea to supply a sheet of paper with the knife that explains the details I've been guessing at here. As you can see, the owner would like to know the answers and a professional knife maker should make sure the owner gets those answers ...

[metal99]

Looks like it was made from a single cut file if you zoom into the picture a bit. Neat looking knife tho.

[AUBE]

I think the leather inlay is ostrich leg. The handle is cholla cactus. Beyond that I can't add anything thats not already been said.

[Crex]

Does appear to be a file and there is an indication that the blade was "edge quenched" (faint diagonal differential coloring across the blade). Judging by the size scale pockmarks the blade was forged in a coal/charcoal fire. By the apperance of the blade, the bladesmith is still early in his/her learning curve on hammer and heat control. This is a pretty rough forged piece, very interesting handle application, probably cholla cactus with pitch or epoxy filler.
Agree with Ray that it leans toward a "period" piece with artistic ####### in play.

[Otter6412]

Thanks for the info. I have since tracked it's origin and you are all right on. I love it.
-Otter