Well again talking to the great CHRIS GRANT I was telling him how the sheath I had was not what I wanted, also the fact I wanted it to be versatile enough for my needs.

So the design process started.

I wanted this new sheath to do many things. It needed to be able to go on my belt as well as hang from a dangler, these might seem like simple things, they were at first, but this sheath was going to be different like no other, we decided on having 'D' rings on the top left and bottom left of the sheath, this would allow it to be slung around the body.

Many people may object to this but it is each to their own with these types of things, the idea behind the sheath was so that it gave people the options of carry.

This was the first draft copy. Its actually a very versatile bit of kit, Chris did a really good job with it, although he states that he is not a leather worker his skills are coming along to be a fine piece of art work. So on the sheath itself you can see that on the welt side there is two "D" rings and also one "D" ring on the belt loop.
My aim was to create a hanging style sheath that could be worn on either side of the body. As the first draft this had some kinks to iron out, we had put moving parts on this which means they could fail ("D"rings on the welt)

I have had this sheath for about 2/3 months now and have found no problems with the design in fact I love it!!

After working with CHRIS on the sheath project, I put to him some drawings of a knife I had drawn a long time ago, I wanted certain things that no other knife had, not only that but to slim things down to only the bare essentials.

This meant to look at all the things I didn't like about my other knives and also look at what I did like about knives I have either seen or used this is important! You need to know what you like about things to get any where with a design.

So after emailing pictures to and fro we came up with a design that was perfect and looked and felt good in the hand.

my first drawing sent to CHRIS GRANT.

Pictures sent back to me with my neck knife as a comparison.

So the magic had started, next are a series of pictures that chris had sent me of the progress he had made.

From left to right then;

Knife blank with bevel and holes drilled for lightening it up, two blades are my neck knife and bushcraft knife, etching on my logo, fitting wooden scales (walnut).

The Stoneage Bushcraft Winter Knife

This knife was a spare of the moment made knife, not only that it is also made completely of recycled materials. The knife started as a conversation over the phone with Chris Grant, I had said to him about full tanged knives in winter draw the heat from your hands making them cold. This was why you will find most Scandinavian knives with partial or rat tang blades. This knife is just a narrowed full tang knife which can be seen in the photo above on the left next to my other knife.

The handle is made from three different materials arranged in a diagonal slant (my wife chose this from four options) The materials are;

BUFFALO HORN,RED PADAUK WOOD AND BURR ASH.

For me I would choose the buffalo horn over most handle materials as it is very strong but very light, although it was hard to work into shape I think it was more than worth the blood and sweat that Chris had put into it.

The sheath is another of Chris's ideas, it started off a normal welted sheath and then he did his magic and wrapped it again with the outer leather and stitched it up the back. Its has been nicknamed the "CHILLI PEPPER" As you can see in this next photo.

All Images © Mike Dixon

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