My Chute Knife by Tim Withers Stockton, Ca

[Wally Taylor]

Tim Withers made this gorgeous Chute Knife for me. The scales are Mammoth Ivory, and Tim made the sheath with a leather pocket frame with a bar of Ivory. Ron Skaggs just carved/scrimshawed a Woolly Mammoth on the bar of Ivory. I should get that from Ron around next Monday. Ron will be doing some work on the knife too. Here are a few shots of the knife. More pictures of the knife and sheath will follow, and the dot on the photo with Tim's Mark is the lens of my iPad..

[Quick Steel]

A beauty with classic lines. Congratulations.

[KleenCut61]

Maker Went Above and Beyond On That One , Really Nice .K.C.

[edge213]

Beautiful, look forward to seeing the sheath.

[Wally Taylor]

Tim is a perfectionist. The soldering on this knife was done so carefully it really looks like one piece of steel. Tim has been recognized for making gorgeous knives, and he works full-time as a plumbing contractor. He wasn't taking orders when I first contacted him. Then, he emailed me that he had a blade laying in a drawer. The guy who ordered the knife just disappeared, and so Tim never finished it. I jumped on the chance to make it mine.
He has never had any of his knives turned into art knives, and he knew that my old friend, Ron Skaggs was going to do work on it. I think that he really tried hard to put a perfect canvas in Ron's hands, and he certainly made a beautiful piece. I wanted a Mammoth on it somewhere, since Woolly Mammoth Ivory is under attack by our politicians. I thought it would be a subtle way of making it clear what the handle material actually was. Ron and I used to work together at Josten's back in the 70's. Josten's is well known for making World's Series and Super Bowl rings. Ron headed up the art department, so he was the one who turned the team's ring ideas into a painting, and finished all art-related functions to make them a reality.
Tim is pretty glad to have Ron working on one of his rings, so it's a great feeling having something done that's a first for him. He is going to make some folders this year, and I should receive the first one that he actually sells. I can't wait to,see what he comes up with.

[Wally Taylor]

I got the sheath back completed from Ron Skaggs, This was the Mammoth that he did for me. I think that Ron and Tim Withers both did a great job of making my idea for the sheath become a cool thing.

[Quick Steel]

WT, Congratulations. Your combo is superlative. I think your ideas were beautifully rendered by the artists.

[Wally Taylor]

Thank You. I wanted to put a Mammoth on the sheath so that 50 years from now it would let the handler know what the handle material was without testing it, or wondering if it was Elephant or Mammoth Ivory on the handles. I'm thinking about having Ron do a Sabre Toothed Tiger on the inside scale when sheathed. The Ivory is so beautiful, I think I want clear Ivory showing when (and if) the knife is sheathed. Any art that I have done is going to be from the late Pleistocene Period.

[Wally Taylor]

Here is a Tim Withers Big Bear that I just bought. This is a very early knife for Tim.

[treefarmer]

Wally Taylor,,
Let me congratulate you on 2 beautiful knives. I'm not into fixed blades so I missed your original post in December. Again a beautiful knife but I'm not familiar with the name Chute knife. Would you mind explaining that for me?
Thanks,
Treefarmer

[Wally Taylor]

Thanks Treefarmer. It was called a Chute knife, because it was designed with both sides of the blade sharpened for pilots, and probably paratroopers. The design allowed them to slash the cords of their parachute if they were stuck in a tree. The sharpened top of the blade allowed them to slash n cut the cords using that side of the blade as well as the regular side. One design had a double guard with holes drilled through both sides so that it could be tied to a stick, making a spear to give them more reach.
Mine is a variation, because it has no lanyard hole near the pommel end, and a guard on just one side. On mine, it has the same
shape and blade pattern as the Loveless Chute knife, but the lanyard hole was left out because it's going to have the scales scrimshawed by Ron Skaggs and Stan Hawkins, and it left more space for the artwork.

[doglegg]

Thanks Wally, I learned something. And beautiful knives.

[treefarmer]

Thank you for the explanation!
Treefarmer

[Wally Taylor]

Thanks Treefarmer. Tim is starting to make folders now. I can't wait to see them. He's really great, and especially for a part time maker. He's a full time plumbing contractor.