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Old 01-10-2008, 12:33 PM
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NJStricker NJStricker is offline
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Do you want an honest critique?

First, we do not know what kind of steel is used in this damascus, although the pattern is very nice.

There are some fit and finish issues I see on several of the knives.

Photo 1--It appears that the edges of your sheath needs some work (beveling and smoothing), and it does not look like there is a welt to protect the stitching from the blade. A strap riveted to the sheath to hold the handle in place wouldn't be my first choice in attachment method, I would much prefer to see a strap that wraps around from the back and goes over the upper or lower part of the guard. A strap of the design you use still allows up and down movement of the knife in the sheath. I cannot see the carving on the handle well, but what I do see does not match the quality of the rest of the knife. It almost appears as if 2 different people worked on the knife--one on the handle, another on the rest of the knife.

Photo 2--There are some fit and finish issues with your filework on the guard--you can see toward the bottom of the guard where you overshot your filing into the middle part of the guard, so the pattern is not the same throughout the entire piece. You can see this elsewhere on the guard as well. It also appears you used 2 spacers in front of the stag, and one behind. I know this will sound picky, but to a collector this lack of symmetry would be important.

Photo 3--I think the retaining strap placement on this sheath is much better than in the first photo. What weight leather do you use for your sheaths? It seems kind of thin to me, compared to the 8-9 oz. leather on other sheaths posted in photos on this forum.

Photo 4--I feel (and I think many collectors would agree) that you've over-used colored liners in this knife handle. The problem becomes apparent when you start seeing the gaps in the joint of the liners when they are perpendicular to each other. There is also poor fit between the right-hand piece of stag and the colored liner to the front of the handle. There is also poor fit between the stag and the tang--you can see where there is more of a gap on the right side of the photo compared to the left, indicating that the handle slab was not perfectly flat before installation, or possibly there was uneven clamping pressure when the stag was installed. In addition, the stag tends to bulge out away from the lines of the handle too much. It would have been better to either contour the bolsters outward to meet the width of the stag (rather than making them so flat) or remove more material at the back of the stag slabs so that it sat more evenly with the bolsters.

Overall comments--they are great looking knives, and they show that you have good technical skill, but more attention needs to be paid to the overall appearance and finish of the knife. While they are good, I don't think they meet up to the standards expected of a custom knife over $200, much less than $5000.
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