In Praise of Muskrat Man

[kootenay joe]

Muskrat Man has been fixing and customizing knives for about 15 years. His work shows plenty of talent and much technical skill.
Here is an older '3 eye' Schlieper 2 blade sod buster style knife, 4 5/8" closed. The back tang has "DRGM/1428923" which indicates an 'older' blade but i do not know how how. The handles were yellow plastic. Some of the Schlieper yellow handles are celluloid and prone to complete breakdown & off-gas.
Muskrat man removed the factory plastic handles and hafted the knife with this very fine stag and small, but perfect shield.
I am showing it beside a more recent(late 1990's -early 2000 ?) stag handled Schlieper 'sod buster', one of my main work knives.
I hope others will add their Muskrat Man knives so that this thread becomes a worthy tribute to the remarkable Muskrat Man, aka Kaleb Reynolds.
kj

[doglegg]

No doubt he does great work Roland. I am always impress with his mods and repairs.

[glennbad]

That's a great looking mod! Kaleb does great work!

[Cletus Awreetus]

one day not too long after I'd purchased this '05 S&M Mountain Man Trapper I dropped it and as luck would have it, a big chunk of the really pretty jigged bone broke off. Long story short; Kaleb did such a great job with this giraffe bone and the original shield I seriously thought about dropping another one! Thank you Roland for turning me on to the Muskrat Man back then! He's a true professional in every sense of the word.

While I'm at it, here's my Eye Brand big sodbuster. Some of the prettiest, most well matched stag I've seen on a production knife. 99S-DS. Scored it at a pawn shop for $35, seen them go on ebay for 10x that.

[FRJ]

Here is some of Kaleb's work.

[FRJ]

A nice little Robeson jack. ........... linen Micarta.

[FRJ]

A Hibbard Spencer & Bartlett ........... linen Micarta.

[FRJ]

A Remington; by another name. ........... smooth bone.

[FRJ]

A Schrade 51OT. ............ canvass Micarta.

[FRJ]

An Ulster fishing knife. ............ smooth bone.

[FRJ]

A big K-Bar jack. ............. canvass Micarta.

[FRJ]

A short line Camillus. ............ smooth bone.

[FRJ]

A long line Camillus .......... canvass Micarta.

[FRJ]

A nice little dog leg Schrade Cut. Co. ........... smooth bone.

Thanks for the opportunity to show these knives off.

Special thanks to Kaleb.

[Railsplitter]

The Gambler. (GEC Churchill)............Black and White Paper Micarta.

[kootenay joe]

Wow, Joe, you must have the best collection of Muskrat Man knives anywhere. Every one of your knives looks very 'smart', handsome. Thank you for giving this thread such a great start.
Rick i think your GEC 35 with white paper Micarta and the black spade shield is one of the best looking knives i have ever seen. It is what inspired me to ask Kaleb to rehandle a #35 with ivory. It came out very well but i think yours has the greater 'WOW !' factor.
Here are 3 GEC knives that Kaleb has re-handled in elephant ivory;
351217
735108 (liner lock)
721112 (lockback)
kj

[FRJ]

Thank you.
Those are three very nice looking knives.

The "Gambler" is a beauty too.

[kootenay joe]

Cletus, you now have the best looking Queen mountain man trapper ! Good thing the factory handle broke. I sure like the look of giraffe bone. I might ask for some of this when i next send a knife to Mr. Muskrat. Your knife looks as good as if handled with top quality mammoth.
kj

[Railsplitter]

Thanks for the kind words guys.

Roland, your Churchill looks fantastic as do the others. You must have had Kaleb add a bolster thread as I don't recall seeing any Churchills with double threaded bolsters. Looks very nice.

[sunknife]

Here are 3 GEC knives that Kaleb has re-handled in elephant ivory;
351217
735108 (liner lock)
721112 (lockback)
kj

The #35 & #72 are 2 of my favorite patterns from GEC and they look great with the elephant ivory handles KJ. Big time nice work on those Muskrat Man, as well on all the others posted here.

[OLDE CUTLER]

Yes, Muskrat Man certainly does some fine work, and he should also be praised for the tips he gives out freely to knife repair novices such as myself.
Thanks Muskrat Man!

[muskrat man]

yall are too kind. guess i've one a few, i don't even remember some of those Joe!

[orvet]

Kaleb and I started repairing knives about the same time in another forum. I have admired his fearless attitude when attempting new and difficult tasks. It has been exciting to watch him grow in his craft and skills even as I did. It wasn't long until he left me in the dust as far as his abilities are concerned.
I think I can safely say he has surpassed any level that I will ever reach, but that is fine I am delighted to see him succeed. For me this is an old man's hobby; I think Kaleb does this for a living, if he doesn't he certainly could!

[kootenay joe]

"I think Kaleb does this for a living, if he doesn't he certainly could!
Dale"
My only comment might not be popular: I think Kaleb should up his prices. His workmanship deserves better reward than what he asks.
kj

[muskrat man]

"I think Kaleb does this for a living, if he doesn't he certainly could!
Dale"
My only comment might not be popular: I think Kaleb should up his prices. His workmanship deserves better reward than what he asks.
kj

I'm not one to turn down "tips"

Dale, I sincerely appreciate the kind words, however you are an excellent craftsman yourself, so please don't sell yourself short