This is a Beautiful 10" OAL 97 Damascus Toothpick!

Great, Smooth, Satisfying Knife. I suspect it will have 100,000 Cycles on it pretty quickly! Haha.

Here in the "Land Before Time", it's rained and thundered, then thundered and rained, with lightening .... for weeks. Dino's are wandering up from the Tar Pits. Misquitos have de-evolved back to Tuskers! Great time to STAY in the shop. Just huge 4' diameter Eyes looking in the windows though .... unnerving.

There are actually five main acids I use to etch. The steel alloy mixes and the strengths of the acids alter the etch. Pattern remain the same, but you try to get the cleanest etch you can. Now, this is important; near as I can recall, and from the pattern, the steels, and the technique of the build .... I'm pretty convinced that I made this Damascus Blade in 1983. I have always kept an inventory of blade blanks. I record as much info as is practical. Some slip by. Let's talk about that in a bit. Kurt suspects I'm hiding the finished knife from him. Haha. Let's get to the pics .... then talk.

(This knife is sold).

Approx. 360 layers. Twist (Maidenhair) pattern. Probably Dual - possible Tri-Alloy mix.

Wow Gary,

Congratulations to you and to Kurt. To you for successfully completing this project and to Kurt for buying it. The blade is a masterpiece by itself and the whole knife concept is beautiful. To me it looks like a classical seventies "Pimp" knife. No offense Kurt.

Gary thanks for sharing your work with us.

Best,

Julio

Hey
That's one fine lookin blade . I think I have a similar Damascus blade with the fine ( maiden twist) .Sn = 3?? I love the shape of the knife .
Julio ,
I lived thru the 70's no offense taken here . It is definitely got a classic toothpick look to it . Long and sleek with a super bling' d out handle . I love the turquoise and ebony and mammoth combo . Gary you never get stale !
Thanks for the chance .

Thanks
Kurt

Given how good that picture looks, I'm sure it is AMAZING! in person.

Scott

Guys,

Those comments make an old man feel good. Thank you much.

Now, Julio; I'm trying to think .... In the 70's, I can only think of a few guys that liked knives like these. They stood out 'cause all of them drove Cadillac Eldorado Convertibles! What's the chance? They liked Colorful Fedoras too! Oh .... I remember suspecting that the A/C units in those cars must have been POWERFUL, 'cause they all wore fur coats. Nice shoes too. Seemed like nice young men. Bought everything with new $100 bills. Can't recall anything like you mentioned though ....

Kurt. You know your serial number is engraved on your Liners. Slip a piece of white paper in there and shine a light. Helps to read it. But ... I do recall serial it took me 1975 Thru 1979 to get to Serial number 99. I was in Braddock Heights, Md., from 79 thru Feb 80 and made #s100-199. So 80 and the start of 81 would have gone thru the 200's. But they were slowing down. More complex. So; the 300's in 83 makes perfect sence. This probably is Sister Steel. Alloy and Techniques.

Gary

Silly, I forgot the main pic!

It's rained so much. Then, the wet woods where I usually photograph is just thick with Apocalyptic Variants of Misquitos!!!

I had to take these pics inside this afternoon.

I'll try for better if it dries some.

Gary

Beautiful Gary,
Thanks for sharing.
Jeff

I like this one too, a lot. Well done, Gary.

-- Jim

BTW ... what you see as a "stripe" in the blade pattern, is actually a bundle of layers. At least three layers, maybe more. Depends upon the lay up and if the packs being welded were odd or even numbers. Meaning, are you seeing "like steel" being weldedback to back ... or dissimilar alloys being welded together. At any rate ... one stripe is not just one layer.

Gary

Awesome knife Gary. Kurt is going to be very proud to sell that one off.

Karl

Hi Karl
I'm certain that was a typo! Haha I am a show off .
I see a very similar pattern to this blade I have AND the toothpick pimp sticker . I will compare fingerprints to see . Even the colors match Gary so you surely recreated your etch. I've never heard of bluing after etching but it makes sense to draw out the texture.

I'm kinda embarrassed at the way I take care of my knifes . I sure use and abuse all of my Barnes carrier folders . I even had to clean some spots off the blade before taking a snapshot.

Thanks
Kurt

Hey Kurt,

Thanks for showing that.

BTW. I'll send you a box tomorrow. Just stuff. Should have been sooner. Rough Mon/Tues. Appointment today. Ship tomorrow.

Your knife pic is revealing. Neat.

I'll be back .....

Your Toothpick is on the way to you Kurt. Kelly left here with it, and two twin Grandsons this am. Ha.

I hope you enjoy. I think it's a sweet knife.

Gary

Thanks Gary
Yes that's one sweet knife .
I didn't want to show TOO much of your / my knife .Its that stag handle one you made back in the 80's with a Lock blade & file work ! I love it

Thanks
Kurt

Did you get the number from inside. I've temporarily hidden my early knife serial number sheets from myself.

Hi Gary
Yes I did get the serial number off the liner . Its #456 from Nov 10 ,1983 . It's extremely decorated with file work and really heavy . I carried it for a good 6 months worth of showing off before retiring it for a different Barnes .

BTW : Thanks for the package .

Thanks
Kurt



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/2017 04:00PM by kurt wag.

Hi Kurt,

That is a neat one.

Hah! 11/83. A month after I got my Master Bladesmith's Ranking from the ABS. That blade might then have the MS stamp ....... no ........ I think they were a while in arriving.

But it's looking more like sister steel on the Toothpick.

Nice filework. I can read 456 and November even on my phone.

Thanks for the Pics

Gary

That's a great looking knife! Where can I get one like that?

Just kidding Gary. I know to look on eBay....


I mean right here on Rendezvous, or glbarnes.com !

Scott

Oh .... YOU are a funny guy!!!

Come on Scott
Your going to get me in trouble . At least I don't buy TWO knifes at a time . Ha
I didn't notice the grain in the black op tie either . Kinda weird huh not seeing ?

At the time I purchased a couple of interweb knives Gary was NOT making or selling any knives . He was completely on airguns only . As a matter of fact I felt super lucky to even find a knife or two .
I'm so glad you got back into knifes Gary AND my offer still stands to assist in erecting the power hammer & any steel or man power required.Ah if there were only 2 of you.... one for airguns and one for knife building .

Thanks
Kurt

Hello Kurt,

I'd dearly love to have that hammer assembled. Every night, about 11:00, I think it's possible. Morning lands like a sack of bricks. And I quietly mutter things about Realtors (you know the fifth Realtor sold our house in two weeks). That slow bleed of carrying that place for 18 months, and dragging it to the bottom of the housing collapse .... terminally effected this move. Then our health care going up to $2k/mo. gutted it. Getting back to work with half your stuff in boxes just doesn't make good TV.

That thousand miles between and your job are a couple of hard details to overcome. But you'd be the guy I'd want/need for the job.

I'd love to have a few extra Gary's. So long as the others had a "Pause" switch and I had the remote. Hehe.

The main Studio is now more crowded than BPN was. If I could break that log jam, I think I'd sing all day.

Gary

I just keep thinking about your offer to help me get that Hammer back together. Man I'd love to have that thing working.

Kelly got home yesterday. I told her about your offer. First thing she said was, "Well, tell him we'd feed him good!!!" Hah.

I've thought and thought, but I just can't see the assembly being a "One old man" job. Jerry helped me take it down. That went remarkably well!

I'd sure try to make it worth your while.

"KURT WAGNER .... COME ON DOWNNNNNNN!!!!!!!" Hahaha.

Gary

Hey you know I'm good for it . You gotta come up with a plan and maybe I can bring my little buddy too. Pm or text if you can think of stuff I need to bring . Steel , tools , I think I brought threaded rod last time for anchorage. I'm pretty sure we can git er done this year !

Thanks
Kurt

Kurt .... THAT is an offer from a great friend.

I'll add that to the my list of really special ones.

Thank you Kurt. We'll talk.

Gary

(Gosh, I have to get a haircut ... shave ... so much to do .... hehe)