What do you think of this Knife?







And the group of Sheath Knives?







Do you have an opinion regarding the full Tang vs. the Concealed Tang designs?

Thanks Everyone. Please, any of our readers; comment.

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/15/2016 01:01PM by barnespneumatic.

Gary
I really like them all but the smaller hidden tang looks the most versatile of all the blades . It's easier to handle and sharpen , smaller to stow away and I definetly think its size contributes to the perfect knife for most .
You don't need much of a blade for most all tasks and larger knifes are harder to handle . Unless of course you looking at a survival knife . Then the larger would be better . You could chop wood for stakes and kindling . If you made a detachable handle you could convert to a spear . Now a lanyard hole would be good too as I have washed knifes stream side and less of a chance to loose it .
I do like the metal finger guard at the intersection of the blade and handle and I enjoy seeing the steel go all the way to the butt of the knife but it's purely just the contrast for me .

Now for the bad news .... I personally am not sold on the skeeter tusk . I'm extremely please to see the guitar picks so thinly made with sun shining thru them . I know YOU say it's tuff but now I'm sure it must be able to hold up to the constant strumming on wire cable . I really like the brown / tan / black the best of the multi color tusk . However for me I'm more of a natural and simple colors kinda guy . That is the reason I chose your brown( super rare )skeeter tusk knife as my choice to purchase .


Ps : I've never met a Barnes knife I didn't like .

Thanks
Kurt

Interesting. Thanks. I asked for your opinion.

Curious though. If I understand, it's just a "doubt" that the Skeeter Tusk material isn't tough? Do you have a poor experience to base that on?

Phenolic Resin impregnated linen, canvas, is the toughest material I use. Any natural material shrinks, expands, twists, warps, cracks, split. My experience with the synthetics I mentioned and use, is over 40 years old. It's stable, hard, and tough. That's been my rational for exploring the stuff I use.

The deal with handmade knives, rifles, and such ... is that when the piece of a tree cracks .... it's the fault of the custom maker. A knife handle is ....gotta go ..... Wind just came up!!!

Ok. Back. Just a Torrential Downpour. Nothing to see here ...

To continue -

A knife - if used, will be carried in 18F weather. It will get wet. It will get covered in blood and guts. Be washed. Will get knocked getting in and out of ATVs, trucks, jeeps. Natural materials hate cold, wet, and getting knocked around. I've had these conversations before - and my friend will say "oh! Well you buy the STABALIZED wood, etc.). In other words .... Turn it into a synthetic by pressure imprednating resin by vacuum or pressure. So; it's not natural any longer. And, then I get moved into the second tier where I'm purchasing materials and parts and scales, slabs, sticks, and providing business to a supplier - rather then manufacturing a complete product in my shop.

I always remember the day I was attending a funeral. Happened quite a few custom knife makers attended. And, afterwards a group were talking. One laments that his last ivory handled knife cracked BEFORE HE COULD GET IT SHIPPED!!!!! I glanced around horrified. Instead of seeing a bunch of jaws dropped, I saw a bunch of understanding nods is solidarity ... like "that's a bummer I feel for you". WOW!!!! Clearly had it shipped, the arrangement was that if you bought the ivory, the maker was done with it when it shipped. And I then think of the folders I've rebuilt when the darned stag warped and twisted the liners, making the action stick.

Well, hope you see a discussion here. Not me beating on Kurt. I just have experiences which are brought up during discussions. Long decades of experience does that to you.

Thanks Kurt. Here's your hat. Let me dust off your jacket there. Ahhhh .... thanks.

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/15/2016 04:43PM by barnespneumatic.

Gary
So I only have a micro doubt of its durability . Like I said after seeing thru the pics of the pics and how thin (.035?)and still flexible I assume , it must be tuff . I think of the man made material I'm familiar with like plastic, Bakelite , fiberglass and I think of the cracking and flexing from uv and heat overtime . Pistol grips lifting and cracking . Now my son recieved a trophy made from a 3~ D printer a couple years ago . It was a robotic camp he attended and I'm sure a very up to date printer made the kids trophys but the media has crumbled and turned to powder pretty much when ever you touch it or articulate it .

Now I meant NO disrespect to the product or the craftsman / artist and I have been doing my own research on a daily basis on the fine knife I did purchase with the same material . I understand the machinability factor and polishability are there judging by my knife scales . Maybe it's my ignorance to compare different products to yours . I have a couple of your knifes from the very early 1980's with bone and antler that held up great . The wood thing stabilized??? Ive got some old wood gun stocks that were not stabilized and they held up great . Just a small amount of enjoyable maintenance.

Any how it's holding up great so far and I'll keep you'all posted .

Thanks
Kurt



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/15/2016 08:28PM by kurt wag.

Waddchewcallme???!!!

Haha.



Let me eat. I have some things to show. I'm excited.

Gary

I generally like hidden tang better than full tang, but the bolster work on the full tang knives is Very nice!!

I have NO doubts about the toughness of Skeeter tusk/Micarta/G10 etc - they are WAY stronger than pretty much any "natural" material.

For myself, though, I just like natural material better, especially WOOD as Gary knows

But, the knives I use regularly around the yard, especially for chopping things, all have synthetic handles.

Now, about 3D printing....my opinion is that currently it is pretty good for rapid prototyping, but inferior in strength to conventionally milled/forged and even cast products - the bonds between the "layers" as they are laid down are too weak and linear. Orthopedic manufacturers are using 3D printing for design, but I would NOT currently implant anything 3D printed in one of my patients

technology is advancing rapidly, though....

Thanks Doc.

Interesting.

I've always felt the (temperature/speed/return circuit) of laying down 3D plastic seemed to get little discussion. It bond has to vary wildly is the head has not returned to bond the next layer before the previous path has gelled. The heat of the thermoplastic would be critical. The path forward - it's speed of progress - would be critical to getting a good bond.

Now, I've never discussed the mechanics of Skeeter Tusk, but it's produced all at once, in a steel mold, under hydraulic pressure. The fiber matrix is infused with the bonding agent. It cured chemically - not a "drying" process. It becomes (near as I can describe from my experience) about the hardness and has the machinable characteristics of solid brass.

Gary

Adding to the discussion:

Everybody likes Natural Materials. I don't dispute that. It's impossible to ever change minds on that. The facts still exist, as such: for a Craftsman, they are a PIA. They are softer than steel. Much softer. So; if you grind and polish wood on steel, the abrasive belts, buffs - they eat the wood much faster than the steel. So it's very difficult to blend areas. Wood only is attractive if it has a tortured grain. As such, that piece of wood has lost about 80% of its strength over a straight grained version of itself. People love it, but they don't have to work it and guess what something perfectly fit today, is going to warp into tomorrow when you come into the shop.

Most natural materials are round and curved. As such, scales are a joy to create. You can saw it, but Stag only has pattern on the outside. So; you saw it and have one side concave - one convex. People want matching texture. Stag barely matches from one side to the other of a five inch stick. Sambar stag is an Indian Stag. From time to time, it can't even be imported. Good matched scale sets are quite costly. I can't get that cost returned and make anything for fooling with all the extra requirements of using it. Ivory is illegal to use unless it's "pre-ban" material and you'd have to have a filing cabinet full of documentation to prove it. Pearl is very brittle, difficult to drill, difficult to rivet, toxic as heck, and comes in she'll form as a ceramic hard bowl shape. If you buy matched quality scales, they are hundreds of dollars. Ancient Ivory can be beautiful, but it's quite expensive, if solid, matched, and has good color. Figure $300-400 for a nice set of scales. And, you have to be quite good to work it. It's also toxic as heck.

Think of this. Say I buy a nice set of $400 ancient Ivory scales. How much do I add to the knife in making for that? $400? Then .... what's the point of getting up? Honestly. I had to seek them out. Sort thru dozens. Order. Pay and wait. Pay shipping. Hope it's good and as represented when it arrives. Then, is it still dense or has it become chalky in 20,000 years? It's a risk. When you cut it, will it seperate along the annual rings of its internal structure? Like the boxes full of the stuff I have on my shelves. Beautiful on one side, seperated and ugly as sin on the other. I literally have boxes of it. You never find a match for the one lone piece you have.

Back to the cost. So; you do all the prep to order, then you make all the special prep to work it. Only new saw blades. Only new belts. Slow and steady. Slow and pray you don't have a crack surface. I don't get any requests for cracked handles. All this, when mounted ... What have you added to the price of the knife? It cost about $475 to get it here, with shipping and two hours finding it and most likely phone calls to the company. The PIA factor to use it, it at least 3 times that of using other materials. If I charge another $500 on the knife, do you think people would buy it? If so, I'd make exactly ..... nothing. I'd barely be getting my money back. You can see where that story goes. When I made a lot of $5,000 knives, then maybe it was worth it.

Now, good stag scales big enough to do anything with will be $100. Same thing. They aren't flat. Aren't straight. You have to set everything up from an indirect clamping position to drill a hole which is actually 90 degrees to the liner. You can see that you can't lay the bumpy, rounded, grooved texture of stag on your drill table and expect anything but a mess.

Bone is a good dense material. Recently though, I've had a poor time finding nice scales with decent jigged texture and good color. This used to be easy. Now, I've seen the most God Awful pale hideous colors and patterning that looked like a 4 year old did it. And they might have.

Cutting and grinding bone is a hideous mess and smell. Think burnt hair smell, for hours. Bone is quite hard. It's not solid. It's s hollow Tube. The walls of the tube are irregular shaped. Some will seem sort of square, but twisted in a hollow helix shape. Some are three sided, but also curved to the side. The very rare section is round and straight .... but too short.

I like bone. I cut it. I carve it. I dye it and polish it. It can crack it dropped. You just can't invisibly fix that. If I could get good scales like I could 30 years ago, I'd use more. I hate the sickening smell of working it from the raw bone though.

So; the only decent woods to choose are exotic foreign oily woods. Paduk. Gonçalo Alves. Ebony - but that is soft. Coco Bolo and Purple Heart are medium hard but darken amazingly fast. They'll be dark brown in ten years. Domestically, we have Osage Orange and Desert Ironwood. They can be very pretty. Osage will darken very fast. And, while people like naturals, I've just never had anybody want to give me a nice bonus for a wooden handle. You understand, I'm trying to make s few bucks on the project. So; all the fiddle time with a banana shaped antler that I won't get much for has to be accounted. If I can buy antlers and cut them into usable sections, then I get the $65/set instead of buying that - getting it back from you - and netting Zero.

I used to use Manta Ray Skin. I'd use Walrus Tusk. I used Mastadon Tusk. But these were $6k, $7k-8k knives.

BTW, I have an enormous collection of stag. Forks, left cork screw twists, too fat, too skinny. Disease deformed. Odd spikes. Severe curves. I've sorted the horns for 40 years.

Now ..... I do have hope of using some on a few new projects. Hope that works. I'll try.

I would like to hear from others who, perhaps, like the Skeeter Tusk as a preference. I've tried to make it fun. I've made it very creative. I can buy plain Micarta so I have not duplicated that. I'm offering something that is uniquely mine. Made with my hands, from my mind, on my tools, in my molds, on my presses, to be used on my knives. 99.8 percent of the world's craftsmen purchase as many parts as they can. I do give you original thought. And what I put out, I am exceptionally certain about. Hope you enjoy seeing the stuff and joining the discussion.

I fear Kurt may have been caught in the rotating door. He's a good friend. He's supported me, and done so with a great heart. He's hauled materials down here from Michigan, and I'm using them with a smile each time. I know we can discuss things as two hard working men, so he knows where I'm coming from and I him. We are good.

Join in if you have the spunk. Ha

Gary

Gary, you never made a knife I would not be proud to own and carry.

But I like natural and wood too. I saw local guy who makes crap knives but he made a great set of scales or handles from local coco bolo wood. It was very white like cheap pine but the dark strips were dark chocolate and evenly spaced. He said he will never work with Coco Bolo again it made him breakout and even had a fever for a few days.

But I wish you could have seen the wood once it was carved, sanded, and oiled. sigh.

But of the knives in the photo I would take the top one the size and the look just grabbed me. It is the size and shape of a knife I would carry and use.

Well done.

Larry

et tu lar ry? Stabbed in the back by a wooden handled knife? Surely not!

Rashes, respitory congestion, fever. Ah yes ... the legacy of exotic woods. But, of course, I could wear a moon suit with half a roll of duct tape wound round my wrists and neck.

So; is it the entire readership who collectively would rather have a wooden handle, or is it only the natural folks who type? I asked your opinion. And, readers most likely would think ....... "Well, ya old fool, why don't you just make what people are telling you they like?" Answer: I have. For over 4 decades. Counter Question: "Why don't people figure that someone who has made knives since 1975, might have learned a few things about what makes an excellent product?" We seem to keep coming back to wood as the main material mentioned in every responce as desirable. If you are going to use the product, meaning wet, fluids, gore, severe temps., then your wooden handle is going to stain, swell, get rough, and possibly split. Wood is a great handle for a tool. Like an Old Hickory Butcher knife. Those, and many others, have handles Shaped seperately, and have two piece interlocking rivets with big heads, which allow the slates to float. To grow and contract. Applied in a "close enough" manner to the steel. I'm just never able to project the story from my side of the computer. From inside the shop. From standing at the tools and bench. I'm not pushing the ban of wood or naturals. Point is that wood is not stable for the ultra precise fits I am selling. It doesn't maintain. I can rivet a slab on top and let it move around, but I'm not selling that grade of tool. I can't make a dime selling entry level designs. I've gone into great detail explaining how banana shaped raw materials with rough surface textures eat up hours like a "Time Monster" and that's also very difficult to make any money with.

It's important for me to convey these thoughts of shop/time/money flow. That's the deal in a business. Try this please. Say, the Boss comes to you and says I've hired someone to take care of your e-mail in the morning. You say "GREAT!!!!" Cause you hate the task. Say it takes you two hours to read, sort, draft detailed responces to .... say Architects working on a company project, etc. you have to look up the charts, do the math, make sure you understand his exact question, draft your responce - then do ten more. This other guy is now going to do that? GREAT!!!!! (So that's my warps, twists, pin holes, layer seperations, cracks, bumpy grooved surfaces, etc.). The week goes on and you are thrilled! Bob has been taking that PIA off your plate all week!!! You LOVE Bob!!! Now; Friday comes. You pick up your check and leave. You are gonna drop by the bank on the way home. (Humor me). You open your check to sign it, in the Bank Parking lot. And .... It's $250 short!!!!! ....... Huh????? What the heck???? There's a note from accounting in the envelope .... "....notice the line item ..... (Bob - 10 hours .... -$250). What the heck!!!

Well, that's what I get in my envelope when I go buy stock blanks, handle slabs, etc. Someone else did the work. They got paid. I paid them. I'll get the money back, but net zero. If I MAKE all my parts, then I SELL them at a fair price. "I" get paid. Think about the "knife makers who have blanks laser cut, but handles, have blanks commercially heat treated, buy sheaths, buy engraving. Sure, it's itemized and they get repaid. But what did THEY do? And, mostly they have to "Retail" the work of the sub contractors they used. Add on a percentage for themselves.

This stuff is real when you are in business. I try so darned hard to make a buck and actually give you something totally Barnes and totally unique. But, for 42 years I've found that a majority want what they've SEEN before from everybody else. My "New Twist" is foreign to them. They don't know everything I've done. Haven't read countless articles on what the experts say. And so, "Familiar" is "Comfortable". Why don't I just do what everybody else does. Make it easy. Blend in. And, I'm over in the corner beating my head on the wall - ".... don't you want a unique, collectible, Barnes?" Not a Barnes copy of THE Group Approved design???

I'm Barnes. I've learned how to perfect each of the techniques I use in my work. I've made the tooling and mastered the steps of producing my products. They are definitely different from "Commercial" or "Next Artist" work. When I'm gone, nobody is gonna want a Barnes copy of a Micheal Walker folder. His work is exceptional. It's "His". He doesn't copy mine either. I find it so amazing that I spend so much effort selling the parts of my work that "Define" my work. Those things that make my work "Barnes". To a degree, this "Fossilized Florida Misquito Tusk" is one small item that will get a footnote in the summary of my work life.

Anybody find it especially appealing or am I gonna have to push/sell the concept. All of the knives made sold. If you wonder why I'm going on about it ... I just put up 7 Tusk handled Barnes knives, which I'm going to show as a critical hoped for broker arrangement. Each and Every comment on the group has included the thought that they'd "prefer" some other handle material. I now fully expect to hear that at my meeting. Fully nullifying two months of creative, precise, work which is critical to my business. That's sobering. It never came up as I showed each new piece over the last nine months. It came up when I had 7 of them finished at once.

There is no describing the madness of being an Artist trying to provide unique work, and serving a public who view me as a Vendor who should be surveying tastes and providing what the popular item is at this moment. 25 years ago I broke from the franchised restaurant into the Chef Owner/Operated Specialty Restaurant. Customers and Makers alike came to my tables to see the new thing from my mind. I took the long detour into Air Rifles. But I will have to do both and none of them, I fear, will be normal or familiar, until I make you familiar with my own unique products.

This hasn't been ONLY a bash on wood. I hope this ends up as a chapter in the book called - "I only asked for WOOD." And, there will have to be tee shirts in the Gift Shop which say, "I asked for Wood - and all I got was this lousy Skeeter Tusk".

Gary
I understand that it's a product that YOU created and incorporate into what made you famous in early years (knives ) ! It's the very same special thing that I enjoy about your airguns is that it's ALL made in house . No store bought barrels or springs or stocks or bolts .... The list goes on & on . The reason as I'm sure you agree isn't only money but VALUE . You don't want sub / par parts in anything you put your name on . So if you want it done right you gotta do or make it your self . There in lies the VALUE to customer.

Now I did buy a great knife with the Miskito tusk because I'm sure no matter what......, research and development WAS done before you introduced the world to your innovation and it came with some great dig site photos to boot !

For me the most important part IS the blade of the knife and those are beyond the best quality I've seen . I did see earlier on the plain black and plain brown resin scales/ handles you manufactured as folders and md 97's . Those really caught my eye as did the more tame version in canvas / tan that I purchased . When I asked why you didn't file any on the knife you said you struggled to NOT dress it up more . That's why I liked it so much . Your eyes went straight to the blade . The scales were hiding a secret and or protecting something . The fixed blade blue and brown and green are very busy to the eye . The patterns are crazy and endless .

Thanks
Kurt

Hi Kurt,

Probably already seem to everyone to be arguing with you. Not my intention. Your opinion is what I asked for.

I understand your comment about your eye going to the blade. Don't distract. I hear your point. Just saying ... for me .... it's 41 years later. I can't keep a focus on "only" a blade for 41 years.

Abalone shell, Black Pearl, Ancient Ivory are all busy. Burl is busy. I just can't do the black or brown Micarta more then every several months or so. It takes too much out of me. . But, if folks enjoy it, I will some.

Was a guy - Jess Horn. His "thing" was "clean". Hardware Store Clean. Nothing. Plain. Strive for perfection. I'd loose my mind.

I greatly respect your opinions and I'm grateful for your support. And, I'm 100% certain I'll hear the same thing at my upcoming meeting. I'm actually 1,000% certain ..,,

Gary

Hi Gary,

Awesome set of knives! My own preference would lean toward full tang. The concealed tang is still very appealing but love seeing the tang shine along side the scales!

Interesting conversation regarding natural verses synthetic materials. Was at Lee Valley Tools awhile ago, Saw acrylic pen blanks in all sorts of really cool colours.

Hope all goes well with the dealer, I am sure they will be impressed!

Pedro

Thanks Pedro,

Have to say .... I fully expect ..... now especially ..... Expect them to say they like natural materials. Haha. . I'm thinking of making a hunter with a natural blade ....

Hehe.

Gary

Gary,

By natural blade on the new hunter do you mean stone or high tech flint? ha ha .. Should be a hit. Cannot wait to see you put your logo on the blade.

Well you did ask us.. Sorry

Larry

The "Natural" blade I had in mind when I wrote that was ..... WOOD. Perhaps with a Tool Steel Handle.

Gary,

I would guess that most of us here had no idea of how wood can expand, move, and change with weather and temp. I see that your new skeeter tusk is much more stable and workable for the type of knives you make.

Hope we did not crush you too bad when we all liked wood. I don't think any of us thought we just answered what came to mind.

hmmmmm wood blade with a metal handle. I have to think about that..... could be splinter problems with heavy use....

Have a great day.

Larry

When we go see Gary, at the HOME, we will give him your best.

On Thursday, we take him Fish Sticks .... Fiv-fi-fivvve Fish Sticks ..... and jello.

Yesterday ... He just sat and quietly said ... wood .... over and over .....

We hear it was a rough night ....

Gary,

Had a rough week and that answer to my wood blade comment made me laugh out loud. Thanks.

I am much better now.

Larry

Gary,

I honestly like the hidden tang with the tusk would really make a good game knife, I may be in the market for one in early November.. They all are good looking blades, also the skeeter tusk is vary unique and one of a kind you can't just go to the store and buy some lol... I've never really been a fan of plastic on knives or air rifles! But the tusk has a vary non synthetic look with all the natural colors and texture...some nice stuff! Natural woods are also nice..The bone folder I purchased from you has a been a great blade, I still have ppl asking to see it all the time... I like the finish on the bone folder still shines like a freshly waxed car! Nice work

BTW I like the tusk gutiar picks bet they play nice!

Matt

Thank you Matt,

Glad you like it. I always picked you as an exceptionally intelligent client with impeccable taste.

Glad the Bone Folder is doing its job. Great to hear.

I'll have to save you a piece of Skeeter Tusk for the Fall. It does have a completely natural feel. Like a dense stag. Warm, and even though polished, it shows a grain and does not have a plastic feel. Not slick. Not "dead" feeling. Has a dense solid ring if tapped on dense material. Again, like tapping a dense Sambar Stag - harder then Ivory.

Gary

Hey Gary,
I have been worn out lately and off the reservation a bit, so I just saw this. I guess I have to buck the trend a bit. I love the phenolic and like synthetics on 'really hard use' knives. I also like bright colors too, and would have been among the Indians reputed to have sold Long Island for $24.00 worth of beads. I think we all realize who got the best deal now. The set is phenomenal and I would like to be able to own all of them. If it was only one though it would be a full tang version. I have had hidden tang knives fail me, but never a full tang. And I must admit the hidden tang knives that came apart were surely not made as well as yours are. I do like natural materials too, but mostly for show pieces. For hard use, I'll take the synthetic every time.
Thanks Bro,
Jeff

I'm going to chime in here, better late than never? The canvas phenolic is phenomenal as a scale/handle/grip material, but color-wise the greens and blues just don't do it for me. Just personal taste, I suppose. If you had a hunk of the stuff in grey/black/charcoal it would be more interesting to me, or perhaps one with more brown/black. My favorite gun stocks tend to be the laminated ones with those color combos.

Just my $.02

Hi Sean,

I'll give ya a nickel for your $.02

I'll see if I can find some which has been aging right in the tar.

I suspect others might like that too.

It's hard to present the colors just right. None of the colors are either Primary or Opaque. They are Translucent and mated against the ambers and taffy streaks, they play well to my eye. Hey .... what do I know ... Ha.

Thanks Sean
Gary

Ironically, I ended up selling the only rifle I've owned that had the grey/black laminated stock that I like so much. It was a Rem 700ADL in 7mm mag., and it couldn't hold a five-group at 100 yards that would fit on to a paper plate. The first couple shots were usually pretty close to zero, but as the barrel heated up they'd start wandering all over the place. Since at the time I was mostly into mid-range target shooting in the desert that wasn't a very good match to my needs, traded it for a Browning A-bolt in .308 with a boring black synthetic stock. Not much to look at but it holds its zero.

Lots of outfits can make something look good, and quite a few can make things that work well, but making that both works great AND look good is a real art. I think Gary has that part pretty much figured out.

Thank you Sean,

That's very nice to hear.

what do you want ... Black and brown synthetic stock?

Ha! Thanks Bud
Gary

Gary,

My Internet service has been disconnected for 2 weeks; it has been quite an annoyance. I'm catching up as quickly as I can but I have a lot to cover. More later.

Lon

Lon,

OMG!!!! You poor THING!!!!

Were you in ICU?

Glad you pulled thru. Welcome back!

Gary

I've missed sooo much. I like all three! I personally would never carry a fixed blade, just can't do it where I work. The larger knives sure would make a superb kitchen utensil. I would have to place it under lock and key. Did I ever tell you the story of my mom using the wooden end of my sharpening rod as a hammer to pound on the back of my santoku knife to chop up an ice block!!?? Ya that's the sort of stuff I get to deal with. I'm not allowed to have nice things, unless I put them in a safe.... And then no one gets to use them.

I really like the smallest knife. The bigger scales look to fit the hand better. I think I prefer the full tang look. I really like the Mosquito Tusk look ! and the durability will be the big plus. This knife looks to be the size for a perfect kitchen pairing knife. Maybe I'm the exception to the rule, I also have synthetic stock rifle for the durability and accuracy. Yes I love great wood on rifles and shotguns but if I am going to take a long shot that requires precision I don't need that factor that has the wood changed my POI from the environment I have put it in.
Just saying.

Thanks Robert,

Working on your rifle today. Back to Dr. Tomorrow. (Maddening time drains). Making the cocking stud now.

BTW - the bottom knife is still available. When Jeff bought the other two, the third sort of got lost in the list bill find it and bring it forward.

They are very nice knives.

Gary