Page 1 of 1

inupiaq seeking advice

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 12:32 pm
by nomad
hello, i'm an inupiaq, currently living in Pratt, Kansas and new "member" to this site. i've been playing around with the idea of selling pocket or fixed blade knives (all options open). the knives must have handle grips with raw material provided by me. i have access to bowhead whale black baleen, walrus ivory, caribou antlers, old bone and ivory pieces. what i'm looking for is a manufacturer, that have the capability to make the knives. anyone have any ideas? if you have any leads your input would be greatly appreciated.
Kolook
Henry

Re: inupiaq seeking advice

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 12:52 pm
by REDTROUT
ARE THE IVORY OR MATERIALS LEGAL AS IT WOULD NOT POSSIBLE FOR A MANUFACTURE TO MAKE KNIVES WITH ILLEGAL IVORY . ?

Re: inupiaq seeking advice

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 1:36 pm
by nomad
all materials are legal. traded between natives. whales, walrus hunted and given by siberian yupik, (saint lawrence island, ivory tagged, old ivory, bone dug by natives. we have rules and regulations too.

Re: inupiaq seeking advice

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 2:33 pm
by jerryd6818
Welcome to AAPK.

I think part of it depends on the price point you intend to target. Great Eastern Cutlery does a lot of SFO's (Special Factory Orders) and makes a great product. I'm not positive but I think Canal Street also does some SFO work and again, good quality products. Queen Cutlery is a major SFO supplier. Queen has made knives for just about every knife company in the business and even though their Queen branded knives don't seem to bring a lot of money or be in great demand by the collecting community, the quality is there and they are respected throughout the world of knives. They make a darned good knife.

I don't know if Bear & Son out of Alabama does any SFO work or not. I know they've done some retro Boy Scout knives with the Remington tang stamp. It doesn't hurt to contact them. B&S leaves me scratching my head when it comes to quality. It's been my experience that they are capable of turning out some really fine work but don't always. Pure speculation but maybe it's the "you get what you pay for" approach. ::shrug:: That's not intended to bad mouth them, it's just one of those things that make you go, "Huh?".

Re: inupiaq seeking advice

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 10:08 pm
by REDTROUT
DID NOT IMPLY YOU WERE ILLEGAL SPENT MUCH TIME IN THE ARTIC WITH INUITS THEY HAD LOTS OF IVORY BUT I COULD NOT CROSS THE BORDER WITHOUT PAPERS ON THE IVORY AM INTERESTED IN HELPING YOU .YOU COULD CALL ME OR I YOU MY EMAIL IS [email protected]

Re: inupiaq seeking advice

Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2012 1:28 pm
by Elvis
Are these materials available to the general public (like me)? Right now I operate solely at the hobby level, but would still like access to some of these materials without having to jump through government hoops or violating any of this forums policies.