A Special Gift

One of the great joys of doing custom work is creating gifts for people that are totally one-of-a-kind. Anyone can give a watch or common everyday item to someone when they retire ,but a purely unique gift is truely a conversation piece and a gift that will forever be treasured.
We recently had the opportunity to create just that gift. Wayne and Dana Claburn contacted us for a custom knife and sheath for a retirement gift for Dana's boss. Dana told us that Mr. Bates had been a great boss and she wanted to do something very special for him. She told us that he enjoyed hunting for both deer and turkey and said the knife would be used in both cases.
Mike suggested a high carbon steel blade that would hold a good edge as well as be easy to sharpen and a longer handle that would make the knife easy to hold when skinning. The handle is made with real ivory which is quite rare, but gives the knife a special look and you will not be seeing many around like it for sure. The guard and pommel are both made from solid brass.
The sheath had to reflect both interests of the owner as well as be a perfect fit for the knife. The 8 oz. veg tanned leather was cut to fit and the oak leaf and acorns(favorite food for deer) was carved on the bottom and the big tom turkey on the top. On the back side is the name BATES which is how Dana refered to her boss as he referred to her as Claburn, It is also stamped on the blade.

We hope that Mr. Bates enjoys both his retirement and his new knife, happy hunting.