All About Pocket Knives

This is a knife I made out of spare parts. I buy knife parts, especially Schrade parts, whenever and wherever I can find them. I bought a few pounds of Schrade parts and found the handles for this knife. It is the same size as the 296Y, the 4 1/8 inch yellow trapper. These handles had what appeared to be the early stages of Uncle Henry Staglon, however the handles were not hafted yet and so the lighter yellow color did not show through. I tried to match the color and the jigging pattern as closely as I could, the match is not perfect but it’s in the ballpark. The inner Swinden assembly with the liner, back springs and blades were ones I had picked up somewhere else. From the tang stamp I assume the blades were probably for and SFO, perhaps even a Ducks Unlimited version. I put it all together and was reasonably pleased with the outcome.

The bone I put on this knife came from Culpepper's. It is root beer color with the Catalina jigging pattern.

In this picture I have the Staglon handles that I removed from the liners.
I sanded down the end of one of them to show the color beneath the outer dye layer.
I would like to put a shield on this knife, but an Uncle Henry shield would be a bit much I think. Perhaps a nice bowtie shield would look good.
I am open to suggestions on a shield, if anybody has an opinion about what kind of shield would look good on this large knife.


An additional note:
It is much different putting together a knife from new parts then it is rebuilding an old knife that was completed. The springs are way oversized, I had to grind nearly 1/8" off the bottoms of the springs so that they would be flush with the liners. I didn't realize how much oversize though springs were made until I began working with new parts on this knife.

Since you have your stamp on the clip blade, that ol' gal doesn't need a shield! That's a great lookin' trapper.
Treefarmer

Nice work as always Dale, looks good to me just like that.

Donald

Beautiful transformation on the Schrade, Dale!

Like the knife.
Very good work on the knife and handles.

Grant

Looks great the way it is Dale. Too much bling can spoil a perfectly beautiful item. A bit like fluffy dice on the rear vision mirror of a Jaguar.
Another superb assembly job, by a true master.
Tony.

Gorgeous!!

I think a bowtie shield would work knicely!!

Here's a knife where, in my opinion, the shield degraded the looks of the knife instead of enhancing it.

Jerry, you're right on that, a little much for that one. A Jag with fur dice , it just doesn't quite fit.
Treefarmer

I kinda think it looks great just the way it is...

Thanks guys, I appreciate your opinions.
After looking at it again, I think I agree that adding a shield would ultimately detract from the lines of the knife.
I think one of the things that attracts me to a trapper pattern are the clean lines they tend to have.
Adding a shield would be like trying to gild a lily, and that never turns out well.

orvet wrote:I would like to put a shield on this knife, but an Uncle Henry shield would be a bit much I think. Perhaps a nice bowtie shield would look good.
I am open to suggestions on a shield, if anybody has an opinion about what kind of shield would look good on this large knife.
knife.

That is a real good looking knife as is. As far as a shield goes, personally I like simple shapes, round, oval or shield shaped triangles. But looking at your logo, I think that a square shield with your logo stamped on it would be right for that knife. I always want to see a name or logo on a shield. Maybe initials if you do not have a small logo stamp. I find it disappointing when a knife has a blank shield.