This fine Custom Mdl. 97 Tactical Hunter, is about 90% complete.

It's a smooth, one hand operating, Button Lock Mdl. 97 mechanism.

Note the differential heat treat with the Ghost Image of the Temper line. Note the Cellular pattern.

We are close enough. This one will be $800 for a single sale.

Thanks for looking!
Gary

Just wanted to say - your opinions are welcome. I won't actually come to your door asking if you want to buy (cause I don't know where most of you live). So; see - its relatively safe.

Now - this doesn't mean you have to be brutally honest or just plain mean. I will need to retain enough self respect to begin another project and carry on with those in progress.

Often, once I post a price - the whole forum goes crickets till the sold sign goes up. That's no fun.

Hope "y'all" have a great weekend. I found ice really helped my back tonight. So much so; I braved the shower for Sunday. BIG mistake! Was a loooooooong way from shower to the "Master Bed Chamber" this 'eventide!

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/20/2014 03:27AM by barnespneumatic.

Knife is just generally assembled enough to foretell the future completed project. Blade is not completely polished. Spine and back side are not buffed. It is functional. Blade is not sharpened. But - you get the idea.

This is dedicated to the thousands of interested folks who have approached me since 1974, and began with; "now I don't want anything fancy ....". "Just want the quality build and function. The pure/clean ergonomics. Light and fast. Click - Click. Don't want to be afraid to use it." That whole line of reasoning. . As I've always explained, the precision that goes into the measurements, the drilling, machining, grinding, heat treating, threading, sanding, assembly, etc. is what absorbs the time. The gingerbread is about 20% of a fine top drawer Custom Build.

Gary

Nice blade Gary

That's a great lookin knife . The handle almost look like wood grain . Lotsa sculpting went into that shape too .
Thanks fer sharing !

Could you please share with us the knife blade size and total overall length.

Thanks,

Julio

Hello Julio,

Away from the knife now - but I'd guess about 3 5/8" blade - 7 1/2" overall. I'll correct later. That's close though.

What do you think of the format?



Gary

Hi Gary,

I find this knife to be a very practical, every day cary knife. This one is for abuse uses without the fear of damaging it. I liked a lot the work that you did on the blade and the scales shape.

Nice job!

That's a great looking knife...just like all the rest! They are all different but all great.

You see how 100% Handmade Custom work presents issues that do not have simple solutions.

Let's look at a couple as regards this knife.

Everybody loves the natural Stag and Bone. They are tough, but not as tough as canvas phenolic.

Regarding "stability" - pretty much nothing is as stable as this.

Now - the "natural" materials will always tug at your heart. But - they shrink and expand with weather and seasons. Like the Burl Walnut everybody wants for a stock - the kind your 10 year old could break because the grain runs 18 different directions. You have a 1/4" run then it turns left, then crosses the stock, then twists back around itself. It's THE default perfect stock. And a powerful magnum shell could shatter it.

This Phenolic is very neat in appearance ... but the words "Canvas Phenolic" don't ring the same bells as the words "Carbon Fiber". Exactly the same process. This WAS the carbon fiber of 1940. But - our culture has played with the words "Carbon Fiber" until we are pretty sure it causes time travel! Wow!!! It's carbon thread and epoxy. Sorry.

Next; we want precision tools - and think Custom is cool - but we still are not going to take a $600/$700/$800 pocketknife to the woods! Are you nutz!?? Hahaha. So - if you can get "Custom" to $69, we'll talk. Haha. This is where I used to chew nails at major Knife Shows because "If" I'd make a fine plain knife - it would lay there. Because it was still well made - and for the price people would go to a new maker's table who was living with his Mom, and there $69 would buy you his top of the line!!! Haha. No, of course it wasn't as good - but they were buying top drawer over there. Haha.

Lets talk weight. People want their gear light and strong. But - any natural material is vastly heavier then any synthetic. Brass, bone, stag, steel, leather, dense wood - all heavy. But they have "the look".

So; when I set out to make a new design or determine to "tool up" and "standardize" to drive the cost down a bit with patterns, jigs, tooling, familiarity .... I then have to make decisions. One of my poor business traits over 4 plus decades has been "honesty". Mostly - it doesn't pay well. But I've always explained so much. Even when I know most don't believe many things. For instance - I know that to this day; most simply do not believe that a well made plain item is 80%+ of the work of a similar ornate item. It's the "you have to have something to carve, engrave, embellish, theorem. It's generally insisted that there is a box of generic "basic" things. And then, they could be sold or you could hot glue some applied "fancy" panels to the base unit. It is often so, in commercial production. NOT so in well made Custom handmade work.

So; do you build for "which" target market? Ah ... you don't expect me to tell!!! Haha.

Hope you enjoy the variety. But - there is a way to get from A to Z and pay bills. I constantly must remind myself. And, I sincerely appreciate your interest in reading, and acquiring items along the way.

Gary

Hey Gary,

Nice looking knife there, I really like the look and shape of the handle. It sort of reminds me of end-grain bamboo like you'd see in cutting boards and such, but the laminate is undoubtedly much more durable. You've got a good point there about using micarta/phenolic; it's already way tougher than it needs to be for this application. Using carbon fiber laminate for a knife handle is overkill, mostly just for show and it's nasty stuff to work and grind.

It's true Sean.

Guess both you and I are Buzzkills. Personally - I guess it was the 25/8 news cycle and Sales Pitch on every molecule. So overdone that I just revolt. It's like the word "Titanium". Hey - they Titanium Nitride a 1/16" Drill Bit and you can ride it to SPACE!!! There are many others. I won't buzzkill them all (I might need to sell one .... ... Haha). Thing is ... "Marketing" works ceaselessly to create these sensations. And they work on it until just a quick syllable works. When I try to explain a complex operation or describe a material that isn't on the current "Titanium/HEMI/Carbon Fiber" spin cycle .... I have to work to get it taken seriously. We've been conditioned to hear and appreciate certain words without question. And we've been "taught impatience". If you can't say it in a quick quip, we've been taught to glaze over.

We can start another thread on that last one ...

I want to continue the thread this knife has opened. I've had thoughts about it all day.

Gary

We live in an age of bumper-sticker attention spans, if you believe the talking heads on the TV and the pundits on the radio. Personally, I think a full bumper sticker is too much information for some demographics, but I guess I'm just an old curmudgeon that way.

This fine Tactical Hunter sold the day of the cutting test video. I'm sorry I did not put it in print. I should have. I mentioned it at the end of the video and it was easy to miss.

I will make another,
Gary

Hi Gary,

I'm glad to know that this fine knife found a new home. I hope that the new owner enjoys it.