It's a good thing I don't sell any knives cause I get easily side tracked on different projects. Thus any customer would be going nuts....as this knife is an example of that.
Scott Gibb (TX Sweat hunting partner) asked me to make a knife for his son Bobby with his antlers. Normally I don't do custom projects...but these horns were Bobby's 1st deer. I sure wish I had something made from my first deer so I took on the project. I would normally split the antler and use them as slabs but in this case it would make a very small necker...that is if I didn't ruin them with my band saw.
Also I don't like doing hidden tangs...just a me thing. I had a hidden tang forged up but just didn't like it. I wanted to be able to give Bobby a real working hunting knife blade that wasn't limited but the size of the antler. I had suggested sending the antlers on to Doug cause he does such a nice job in that style. So poor Bobby's antler just seemed to take a back burner for awhile :(
Along came Shell with our combined St Judes offering of a French Fur Trapper Era beaded neck sheath...just beautiful if you haven't already seen it on the Auction.
I researched a knife suitable for that time period and noticed a lot of knives were just partially tanged and pined to a slotted piece of bone. Long story but that solve my dilemma of what to make Bobby. So Bobby no matter how big your future bucks will be, I hope this is a pleasant reminder of your First Buck taken with your Dad...Doc