REAL Fancy folders!!

[SharpByCoop]

I was at a friends house for dinner and he pulled out his collection. Wayne had about thirty great folders, but a couple REALLY stood out. With camera in hand, and with his permission, I took pics and can post for our pleasure.

This little guy had just arrived, and I couldn't help but take a few pics. Such craftsmanship! Those are a male and female salmon in there!! Koji Hara has a never-fail smile and does some mighty fine fancy folders. I give him an A+ on this!

(Testing out some thumbnail links instead of the big pics today)




And THIS one REALLY caught my fancy! Bob Garbe from... Michigan? #### if I've never heard of him, but WHAT A KNIFE!!!

The craftsmanship and design is awesome!



Coop

[Osprey Guy]

OK Coop!

Fancy is right...you know I like fancy!

1st up: Koji's knife is really innovative (as always)...what a cool concept. I wouldn't mind exploring more of this idea someday myself. I'll have to save this in my cool idea file for when I'm good enough to tackle (get it tackle?)

You may think I'm nuts, but at the same time I really would like to have seen him refine this a little more. It could be your photos, I doubt it...it looks surprisingly rough for what I've seen of Koji Hara's work...in your collection and elsewhere. It's looks as if he got tired (or bored?) and didn't feel up to taking the very fine files to the fish, and the fileworked rim around that inside edge...I guess that could be construed as rough "bite" marks? Does it look that unfinished in person or is that just my imagination?

Don't get me wrong I still like this knife intensely!

Now Bob's...Come To Papa!!!
This is a great knife. Again some unusual lines...all over... I'll have to save the image for the filework of course. I suppose the leaves are engraved...I like that a lot! Love everything about the thumbstud as well...MOP work is terrific, and special kudos for his mark on that blade!..really nice.

You caught a couple of great fish with your camera!

Dennis

Yeah Baby!

[Don Cowles]

The Garbe knife is his "appleseed" model. I have been to his shop several times, and we have swapped information over the years. Sorry to say, that has stopped- Bob got out of knifemaking altogether a couple of years ago. Too bad.

[Raymond Richard]

Coop, I've never been a big fan of folders but the one with the fish is really cool. What metal is being used for the handle? I can get some ideas by looking at something like that........

[SharpByCoop]

Don: Sorry to hear this about Bob Garbe. I'm going to keep my eyes open for his work on the secondary market. That is inspiring!

Raymond: I have no idea what exactly it is, but it is certainly some kind of stainless steel. I don't know anything else.

Dennis: Yup, it's a *little* rough, but considering the small size of the knife (about a 2 1/2" blade) and the magnification of my camera, it doesn't appear nearly as coarse in hand. In fact it's stunning when closed! And I think Wayne didn't pay a gazillion dollars for it, so it wasn't a 'Best of Show' effort. Still worth every penny to me!

Coop

[MtMike]

Coop -- I'm visualizing the fish with that great background when closed -- I'm seeing a swirling stream. Did you get a pic of it closed? Great pieces, and I'm a big fan of neither damascus nor MOP. But you've gotta love this kind of innovation.
Nice work with the thumbnails -- I didn't notice, but it's gotta speed up downloads on this end (and with the snali-like speed of telphone lines in the mountains, every little bit counts)
MtMike

[cactusforge]

Folders don't turn me on very much but the little one is very neat.
Gib