I had a little extra time and a perfect piece of elk antler laying around so I thought I would give a hidden tang knife a try since I have never constructed one before. My son was born on New Year's Eve this last year and I have been wanting to make him a knife that I could give to him later, maybe on his first deer hunt or something like that.

After seeing Lin Rhea's "Beyond Custom" knife post, the idea of incorporating different things or objects into a knife got my wheels turning. I wanted to incorporate something in this knife from myself, my Dad, and my Grandpa. The first two were not to hard to come up with. I obviously made the knife and I got the elk antler from my Dad so those two were taken care of, now finding something of my Grandpas to put in here was going to be the trick. I thought of using his old .243 casing that he took his only whitetail deer with and incorporating it into the end cap of the knife but that was quickly decided against when I destroyed 2 separate wood spacers drilling the hole for it to fit into, dangit. By accident I came up with the solution.

I inherited Grandpas old tool cabinet when he passed away and there is a lifetime of odds and ends thrown in there, I don't think he ever threw anything away. He saved nuts, bolts, drill bits, washers, you name it, it was in this cabinet. I came across a hand full of old horse shoe nails and thought one of these would be the perfect thing to go into the end cap of the knife. It's simple, but yet completes the story of the knife. Hopefully someday when my son carries the knife, he can appreciate all the parts that went into this project and hopefully it gets him thinking about his ancestors and their hunting heritage.

The knife is close to 7 1/2" overall and the blade is almost 3 3/4". The knife is no where near perfect but I learned alot on the project. The spacers on both ends of the handle are blood wood and walnut and the guard and end cap are nickel silver. I plan on making a couple more of these knives for myself since I had such a great time with them. When you have a story that goes with a knife it just makes the project that much more enjoyable.




Here you can see the horse shoe nail glued into the end cap. My engraving skills aren't the best and it sure shows when you have a small area to work with.

That's sure to make him smile......you gonna let him taste test it like Lin's grandson?   :D  
Darcy

Hahaha I just might have to!

That's awesome. Sooooo cool to hand down family history like that.    


Jeremy

This kind of thing is good to see. I have to give credit to Gary Logsdon for the idea on his knife. But there's no doubt these materials offer a unique connection to your family. Well done.

Myself... I think it is perfect! I love what you made for your son!
 

Very nice multipurpose blade.

Very well done!

He's gonna like it, I do.

Here is the little guy, I think he likes it.

Great picture.  

Really cool Trapper.  Your son is going to love that.