All About Pocket Knives

The Magna Carta was signed 800 years ago. it contained the bases of much of the law that was ultimately enshrined in British and American law. We have acquired a small amount of 13th century oak and the oak has been utilized for knife grips for a Sheffield made folding knife in carbon steel with a sheepsfoot blade.

How would I get my hands on one?

The oak came from a roof beam reclaimed after the fire at York Minster Cathedral. It comes with a certificate of authenticity from the Minster and a letter on handmade paper describing the knife and it's making. I have very little of the wood and the knives are on http://www.sheffield-gb.com Given that the wood had been seasoned and was from a tree which was old at the time it was cut down the wood is probably much older than the 13th century.

This is a neat piece of history!

The Magna Carta is thought to be the legal bases of the right to bear arms in America. This is a year with an amazing number of historic anniversaries in the UK. Amongst of collection of wood we have some ships timber from HMS Victory Nelson's Flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar. The 13th century oak for the Magna Carta knife is the best.

I just placed an order, about $75 US. Hoping I receive it.

The Magna Carta Anniversary was a Jeopardy question this week.

The Ankerwycke Yew which is thought to be at least 1400 years old is still alive at the location by the Thames where the Magna Carta was signed. Some put it's age at 2400 years old. It would unfortunately be a criminal offence to redeploy any part of it for knife scales even if bits dropped off. Never mind.
The HMS Victory wood came with square shipbuilding nails still in it. The exhibitions in London are displaying documents some of which are a thousand years old. The astonishing thing is the quality of the calligraphy and the eloquence of them.

Well I picked up both the Magna Carta sheepsfoot and the HMS Victory drop point. Hoping they both have scales with character, I was never much for smooth bone or wood scales. Although ebony does look nice . . .

Was the Victory portrayed in a Russell Crowe movie, Master and Commander? Not sure what it is but I seem to like movies with tall ships in them, like Pirates of the Caribbean.

They are on there way to you. That wood has seen a lot of history and when you see the Magna Carta oak you will see it an amazing patina. The HMS Victory wood came with square shipbuilding nails still in the wood and of course the Victory is still a Royal Navy warship.

Looking forward to handling them, thanks for your awesome customer service, Malcolm! The Man-o-War HMS Surprise was the ship in Master and Commander, going to read up on the HMS Victory.

Speaking of tall ships, anyone familiar with the Hermione? She's been rebuilt and is going to port in Alexandria on the 10th. Definitely going to tour her. http://patch.com/virginia/oldtownalexan ... _A.twitter

The HMS Victory is quite impressive.

-John

My knives arrived today, more than pleased with them!

Thanks, Malcolm!

That was quick. Sometimes takes weeks for the knives to arrive.
I am currently trying to obtain the red cloth made by the same mill which made the cloth for the army for the battle of Waterloo. It's how the Redcoats got their name. It's to make sheaths for the commemorative knives for the Battle of Waterloo.

We have now obtained a quantity of the scarlet cloth made by the same mill that made the cloth for the tunics of the British infantry at the battle of Waterloo and of course also the Redcoats in our American colonies. We will be turning it into knife sheaths and draw string bags for our Waterloo knife. The Waterloo knife is made with the wood from an historic building in St. James's where the Waterloo dispatch was delivered after the battle.

I'm learning a lot more about tall ships and frigates in general. I tribute this to your HMS Victory oak knife, Malcolm. I toured L'Hermione when she was in port in Alexandria and she was impressive. Can only imagine what the HMS Victory looks like in person. She's the only Ship of the Line that still exists to my knowledge. Oldest tall ship still in service, a floating fortress.

Looking forward to some pictures of your fixed blade .

In our quest for new materials we have aquired some of the teak decking planking from the Royal Yacht HMY Britannia. The teak has been stored by the Royal Navy for sixty years and we have produced a small range of shaving brushes and safety razors with it. Tough teak with a remarkable provenance.

Things are getting increasingly difficult in Sheffield. Trevor Ablett has shut his workshop due to ill health and the ages of several other knife makers range from 80 to 90. The WW1 Somme centenary knife is now on the site and that has been made with the walnut from Lee Enfield rifle butts. We have also produced some shaving brushes and safety razors made from the teak planking used by the Royal Navy for the Royal Yacht. The teak was stored by the navy for sixty years and disposed of when HMY Britannia was decommissioned. It's taken six months to get the brushes made. It was due to come in a box with the Coronation coin embedded in the lid but the box maker has run off with the money. People have been buying my entire stock of knives of some of the makers so I am restricting purchasers to genuine retail buyers.
I have not got a lot HMS Victory planking but it may be possible to make a few small bowie knives.

The first of our handmade folding knives with lambsfoot blades and mammoth ivory scales has been made. Each one is unique and this one displays deep rifts resulting from the thousands of years of weathering in the ice.

We are down to our last few pieces of HMS Victory timber now. In the pipeline is a Sheffield made Bowie with 15th century oak grips. The oak is from a Yorkshire farmhouse. The Wars of Roses were raging around that area at that time. Getting more and more difficult to obtain the wood but we keep looking round the architectural antique yards. Next week should see them finished.

Sorry for the slight delay in replying. Dating from around the date America was discovered by European explorers we now have 15th century oak incorporated into a Sheffield made Bowie. It's beautiful wood but not easy to photograph as it has an harmony of very similar tones.

1967redrider wrote:Looking forward to handling them, thanks for your awesome customer service, Malcolm! The Man-o-War HMS Surprise was the ship in Master and Commander, going to read up on the HMS Victory.

Speaking of tall ships, anyone familiar with the Hermione? She's been rebuilt and is going to port in Alexandria on the 10th. Definitely going to tour her. http://patch.com/virginia/oldtownalexan ... _A.twitter

The HMS Victory is quite impressive.

-John

.......admiral nelson's flagship at the battle of Trafalgar!!.............. .................

We were down in Greenwich today. Finding the wood puts you touch with all manner of interesting people. We walk down the Thames past a very old Boat scrappage yard and you look in the yard through holes in the corrugated iron fence. They would never let us in and today the scrap yard was gone. Somewhat upset we walked down the back of the Naval college and there is an area about three hundred yards long between tall brick walls and there was an open gate. No signs saying what the place was - and it was called the Queens Garden and was being renovated by volunteers. Ponds, wells, ancient fruit trees etc and I suppose the gardens must have been say three hundred years old - you never know what you will find.