What knife did you buy this month?

[wrwindsor]

Last weekend there was a "Central States Hammer In and Knife Show" in Columbus, Kansas, where my brother lives, coincidentally. The event has classes about knifemaking and "vendor row" where supply houses and knifemakers set up tables to sell their wares.

I got wind that Ray Kirk was going to be there. Ray is a 70-something Cherokee Indian that was on a couple of episodes of "Forged in Fire" TV show. He lives in the same area where I spent a fair amount of my childhood in NE Oklahoma. I've bought several of his "Trail of Tears" knives, three of which ended up in Europe.

Anyway, I've always wanted to meet him and chat it up a bit, so I went to the event last weekend.

I met Ray and his wife (name escapes me now), had some great conversation. He was there to sell knives so I adopted one.

[VanHahner]

Nice !

[Pat C.]

I agree. I like that.

[VanHahner]

Simple and to the point !

[wrwindsor]

This is the Randall "Model 4 fighter" knife of non-catalog variety. Six inch blade, standard stacked leather handle, nickel silver hilt and butt (extra option), aluminum and black spacer option.

https://www.randallknives.com/knives/4-6-fighter/

This one was ordered directly from the shop in November of 2017, so they're almost six years delay in getting a knife to you. As mentioned earlier, I've been placing orders every quarter, so now every quarter I get an e-mail from the shop notifying me that a knife is ready to ship, as soon as I pay the balance. (FWIW, you pay the price established at the time of our order, so I paid 2017 price for this knife.) It's a gift from "previous me" to "today me"! Worst case, if I don't like it, I can sell it for today's catalog price and make a small profit over what it cost me.

You can, of course, reach out to an authorized RMK dealer with your custom order request and have it in your hands in "months" instead of "years" for the same price as what the shop charges, depending on the dealer.

[VanHahner]

Can never go wrong with a Randall !

[cwo4uscgret]

My wife and I are in Paris; she arrived a week before me; we have a new grandson; Ishmael Rafael Martinez; he will be 6 weeks old on Sunday. Both his mother and father jokingly said ?He looks like you!? I said if that were the case there would be real problems?!

So last Sunday my wife and I went to the Paris Flea Market; the largest of its kind in the world. Many vendors; more vendors with stalls instead of tables or in some cases, blankets on the street. I found one vendor who specialized in militaria especially some very outstanding firearms and edged weapons. Most were out of my league; however I did buy a knife, way out of my comfort zone WRT knowing any thing about it! Here?s the description that the seller send to me:

Japanese short sword, Wakizashi.
Japan, Edo (1603 - 1868) and Kansei (earlier then the Ed Era) era blade,
Blade length : 43,5 ; nagasa (blade): 32,6 (12.8?); nakago : 11cm (tang 4.3?)
Blade weight: 272 grams (9.6 oz)
Blade (sugata): straight with tempered line, yakiba, notare ha.
Copper habaki.
The spindle is in white shagreen, brown braided, decorated with a pair of menuki depicting war fans.
Fuchi- Kashira suite with reed and duck motifs.
Iron tsuba with gilded dragon.
Black lacquered wooden scabbard (saya), decorated with a menuki depicting a man with a toad in front of a basket. Silver kojiri. Kozuka missing.

Pictures or it didn?t happen; better pictures when I get home?enjoy! It?s going to take a lot of effort to properly document this one. Polishing the blade for example costs anywhere from $100-$150 an inch!


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