The Triplets

My Dad and his Mate both wanted me to make them a knife.  They placed the very first official order for a bespoke Thipa NZ knife.

So lets start with a bit of history on these.  In some of the previous blog posts, you guys would have seen the progress of these knives and also how they looked post heat treat.  The below picture are of the two blades and the raw wood that I am going to use for the knife scales.

I wanted something a bit special for my father.  I mean he gave me absolutely everything and molded me into the person that I am today.  So you want to give him the perfect knife, but if I had to wait until I make the perfect knife, then my dad will never receive his knife...   Anyway, I am quite happy with the one I made for him, and I think he will like it too.  It is definitely more of a skinner knife than anything else, but I am looking forward to him cutting up some Biltong for his grand kids with this knife.

His mate was one of the inspirations behind my knife making.  This is the same guy that helped me hunt my very first animal.  It was a "Dassie" or a Cape hyrax.  These animals look like rodents, but are actually related to elephants (Google it, you will see why some people call it a rock rabbit).  The cool thing is that my dad's mate's name is very similar to this animal's name.  On that same weekend we picked up beautifull piece of wood in a riverbed, and he said to me: "You know you can use that to make very nice scales for your pocket knife".  His words stayed with me all my life, probably because I had no idea how to make knife scales, but today I can send him a knife that I made by hand.

I hope both my dad and his mate enjoys the knives, and have the opportunity to use them as hunting buddies for many years to come.

Before I send them away, I will try my hand at leather work and make sheaths for these knives.  We shall see how they turn out.

The third knife... Well this was my very first flat grind knife.  I am quite pleased with how it turned out. Initially it was going to be a satin finish, but I went for a mirror finish in the end. I have to say,  the mirror polish worked really well on this one.  I have someone in mind for this knife, so let's hope that he is happy with his new knife.

Check out the video at:  http://youtu.be/XtSyy4uzCYU

Here they are with the custom made sheaths. Ready for shipping.