All About Pocket Knives

A little USA Buck 503 I just finished up. Pre ban elephant ivory, rat tailed and stippled bolsters, vine filework and mirror polished blade.

Nice one Kaleb.
The ivory is very elegant.

Dale

WOW!!! That little 503 is just beatiful. I really appreciate the great metal work and polish you did too. I hate doing the metal work and polish so I can really appreciate what you did to that 503!

'Tis a thing of beauty Kaleb! Great job.

Good work Kaleb, your hand must be feeling a bit better. It takes a while - it will probably take a few weeks of knifework to feel "normal". Looks elegant as Dale said.

Thanks Guys, much appreciated. This one is on it's way to it's new home in the buckeye state.

HUKK, actually my hand is no better. The finger keeps swelling, turning colors, it still doesn't bend and I still have no feeling between the first two joints. I went back to the therapist yesterday after a 10 day break to "see how it goes" and he told me that it should be showing signs of movement now and since I damaged no nerves or blood vessels (causing the colors and numbness) when I had the little slip that the doc apparently screwed something up in the process of trying to reattach the tendon. Has really started to give me a headache so I have been trying to focus on building knives to keep my mind off it.

Hey Kaleb,
I can really feel for you.
This surgery was the 12th surgery on my left hand.
Sometimes it takes a long time for the hand to heal as the hand is a very complicated thing.
The good news is that you can learn to work within your limitations, like you are doing.
I have no bend to my wrist at all, it has been fused solid for the last 18 years or so.
You can learn to live with it & work around it as evidenced by this beautiful knife you just finished.
Eventually the pain goes away, or you just stop noticing it, I am not sure which.

I am 2 weeks post-op and my hand is doing better than I expected. My doc insists that I not use it & keep the thumb immobile. I still have a lot of swelling & pain, but it is getting better.

Hang in there buddy!
Dale
PS- I was going to show a pic of my hand, but didn't want to gross anyone out.

muskrat man wrote:Thanks Guys, much appreciated. This one is on it's way to it's new home in the buckeye state.

HUKK, actually my hand is no better. The finger keeps swelling, turning colors, it still doesn't bend and I still have no feeling between the first two joints.

Sorry to hear that. We have a "hand guy" here in town that did surgeries on both my wife and I and the guy is a magician! Takes about 2 months for an appointment and many folks have come from out of state for their surgeries. We are on the "family plan" since he has done 5 or 6 surgeries on the two of us. He interned at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester New York and he does justice to their reputation. We are lucky to have him here.

Kaleb,
Just received the knife and all I could say is WOW! Pictures are great but in person it's even better. Went into the pocket right away and hasn't met the others on the shelf yet! Very nice knife and thanks once again.

Matt

Glad you like it Matt, should ride in the pocket well.

reattach the tendon MM you said. ??

reattach the tendon to the bone is one thing.

reattach the tendon to the oter end of the tendon is, most of the time going to end up shorter.

This is my own experance.

yes this was a tendon to tendon reattachment. shorter yes but I wish it would at least bend.

Hang in there Kaleb.
I have had mine so stiff and had so much scaring of the other tissue to the tendons that I could hardly move any of the fingers on my left hand.
It took 12-18 months (IIRC) to get them broken loose.
If I were having such a problem, I would investigate the possibility of finding some sort of nutritional or herbal supplement that might help the elasticity of the tendons, & take lots of vitamin E (to help with the healing in general).

Keep on keepin' on,
Dale

orvet wrote:Hang in there Kaleb.
I have had mine so stiff and had so much scaring of the other tissue to the tendons that I could hardly move any of the fingers on my left hand.
It took 12-18 months (IIRC) to get them broken loose.
If I were having such a problem, I would investigate the possibility of finding some sort of nutritional or herbal supplement that might help the elasticity of the tendons, & take lots of vitamin E (to help with the healing in general).

Keep on keepin' on,
Dale

Dale is right Kaleb! It will get better with time and you are younger than Dale and I. I had a section of dead tendon in my right forearm and it took me about 2.5 years - but I had a very large section removed - it was as tight as a 65 LB bowstring with no let off (compound bow) Just keep using it and stay in a comfort zone - a little pain is OK - just don't let it get out of hand - the pain that is. Pain will tell you how much to use your hand - BEFORE it gets bad - do something else that does not irratate it as much. Yeah sometimes it seems that everything you do irratates it. Hang in there, don't push it to hard.