Bob Hewitt

Love it! There's absolutely no reason why any of that should work, a total mix up of styles, era's, continents, even hemispheres for gawds sake, but it works! That antler looks great - as does the rest of it, a great job! Now, scabbard, how about one of those seax type sheaths, chains and copper fittings, should look good?

That's a damn fine looking axe! What sort of weight?

No pix showing here, mate!

You don't suppose that it was some kind of demonic retribution considering the number your Fitbit showed you? You might have opened up a portal in your forge!

I'm liking that a lot! Good workmanlike blade shape, and that woodwork is spectacular! A strong working knife.

Yeah, that works! It looks like it's spent a lifetime going round all the "interesting" parts of the world and is still looking forward to doing it all again! Great job, love it!

A few new bits in the usual 'rustic' style! The longest one, at the bottom, is 01, approx. 4mm with a 170mm blade. The handle is Ramshorn secured with brass rivets. Veg tan sheath with bone bead decorations. The next, 1st left at the top, is a cowhorn handled skinner. 75ni8 blade, 3mm x 110mm, copper pins and more veg tan. The middle one is more Ramshorn and copper rivets with a laminated blade of 140mm. Veg tan and bone sheath. The last one, top right, is a utility\hunter in 78ni8. (115mm x 3mm) Ramshorn, copper rivets and leather thong. More veg tan with a bit of, not brilliant, tooling! I've only done one close up to give a general idea of the 'rustic' finish. None of them are what could be described as collectors quality, but as users, beaters and general workers, they should excel - but pretty they ain't!

It cartainly isn't a caltrop! How long is it?

...from the deep, dark recesses, oh, wow, the contents of your head must be a sight to behold! That is one superb piece! All I get from my deep, dark, recesses is twisted, battered and generally mangled lumps that used to be innocent virgin steel, maybe I need a transplant... ...or therapy! Great piece, well done!

That's a beautiful piece, man, I'd be proud to have that on my belt. I really like copper fittings on a working knife, or any knife come to that, and your piece really wears it well. Great job, that leatherwork ain't none too shabby either!

That has a real "presence", and looks it's lightning swift in the hand! Love the look of both the deep fuller and that steel combination. If that goes up for sale you won't have it long!

That is a very well executed package. The contrasts between the individual components really sets the whole thing off. That hamon is a thing of beauty though, isn't it?

Hi, Alan, I'm currently looking at the pix on a different machine and they show up fine. I've checked the links and they're correct. Any other reason why you might not be getting them?

I've had an idea to make one of these for a while. It's forged from EN9 with a 200mm blade and a 120mm handle. The leather is 3mm veg tan. All the bits and pieces are brass, buffalo horn and leather. The belt loop bit (the baldrick? or frog? or whatever...) is detachable should the need arise, and is locked with a sam browne stud to stop it sliding apart. It's a tight fit, so sliding isn't really likely! I was going for the 'lived with' look and, probably due to my rubbish grinding skills, have given a look that suggests having been freehand sharpened since first seeing service at Gettysburg! It should make a fairly useful camp knife, or it could end up hanging over a fireplace with a family fable wrapped round it, "That? yes, that was my great, great, great uncle's, he had it with him at Rourke's Drift, I think it was..." Anyway, what do you think, Guys?

Dan, I'm not making anything illegal, or unusual come to that, just the usual hunters, bowies, etc. The problem came about when the Royal Mail produced their restricted and illegal shipping poster. Under weapons was a silhouette of a ka-bar or something similar. Since then all my local post offices have taken that poster to heart and immediately think knife = weapon and no amount of quiet, reasonable, explanation will deter them from their crusade to rid the world of items sharper than a spoon! I know their actions are wrong, and I'm aware that I can insist upon speaking to the manager of whichever office I've landed in and eventually my package will be accepted. The only problem is I carn't be arsed to go through all the hoops every time I sell something. So, couriers it is!

No they're not controlled, but if you're unfortunate enough to have your local post offices seeing anybody with a knife, even in a well packed postage tube, as a rabid jihadist they can be a real pain. I've had packages refused shipping because some jobsworth couldn't differentiate between a 95mm hunter and an automatic assault rifle! I've even unpacked knives to show how well they're packed only to be told it's a dangerous weapon and, as such, cannot be shipped by the Royal Mail! Now, I use couriers exclusively!

When shipping to the UK the import duty and any fees are paid by the person receiving the package before it is released by customs. There is a great deal of paranoia currently here regarding knives. The internal postal service frequently queries packages containing knives as they don't ship 'weapons', and however much you try to explain that knives are just tools and that knives don't kill people, people kill people, you might as well save your breath! Recently, flippers have been seized by customs as they are believed to be 'gravity knives', as the bearings were considered to be too slick and allowed almost instant access to the blade! Importing knives into the UK is a game of Russian roulette at the best of times and frequently depends of the mindset, or knowledge, of individual customs officers.

That looks really good! As Dave said, a bit of knackered precision would really set it off but, overall, it's a thing to be proud of, if it were in my pocket, I'd be proud of it. A good job well done!

I've not worked these, but I've used a lot of antler and horn, in fact it's all I use, so give me a day or so and I'll see what I can do!

Well, I ordered from blueduiker.com, and about a week later I got this lot! Total cost, airmail, etc, was $169.50. They're all excellent quality, all more or less the same size and, apart from a little trimming around the scull end, all useable! Will I order again? Damn right I will!

Just placed an order. Was mailed back in minutes to confirm. I'll get back to you guys in a bit!

Nothing wrong with that, Mate!

That's an interesting find, do you know the makers mark? It's going to look good with wrought iron fittings.

That's got a bit of 'Mad Max' about it! Great job!

Oh, wow, man, that first Bowie ticks all my boxes, a fantastic bit of work, very well done indeed! Bob