All About Pocket Knives

I would like to show some Canal street knives that are either very scarce or 1of1. This swing guard was made in very low numbers with a walden etch. I don't remember exactly the handle material but it looks like burl. Maybe Eric will remember.

Ohhh my"......

Jay,

That is OUTSTANDING....... I would love to have that one in my Canal Street Corner....

Not that you are considering getting rid of it, BUT, if you ever decide to send her on her way, PLEASE let me know first!

Thank you for sharing that
Tom

Thanks Tom, you would be first on the list.

Jay, that was an exotic wood but I can't recall what it was at the moment. That's about as rare as they get buddy, only a handful made and never let out into the open market. Even more stunning is the fact that you have that one, likely the only one done in wood. All the others were done in bone. Beautiful!

Eric

Thanx Eric and Tom. This came out of the safe at the bottom of the stairs. You know the one Wally lost the combo too. Lol. Thank god for Harold. He had the foresight to write it down. There were some real treasures in that safe. I'm going to post some knives because I really miss the shop. Still can't believe its closed. Hopefully these knives and the stories that go with them will help. I know you guys feel the same. I'll put another one up tonight.
Jay

Phil is gonna have to be restrained when he sees this knife................
easy Phil...we are here to help comfort ya bud......lol

Will
http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/clearcreekknives

stagman, did you post in the correct thread ?
Your link is to recently made Marbles knives for sale. Nothing to do with CSC knives.
kj

Anyone that would visit the knife shop would eventually make their way up stair through the shop and to Wally's office in the back. Wally had a big table in the middle of the office and with a quick scan you would be able to tell what was in the works. This is where all his latest samples, prototypes, concept knives and projects were hanging out. If you really wanted a glimpse into the future you could look on Harold's work bench and try to see what he was working on. And if you wanted to travel in time you could try and figure out what Dave S. Was doing. Not easy, he was usually not working on a knife, best I could tell he was working on tooling for a knife no one thought of yet. He really was that smart. One of the knives sitting and marinating on Wally's table was this one. Truly one of a kind. Handles are alligator skin. Engraved in the guard under the scrolling is 000. Sorry Tom, someone had to get it.

The link is my AAPK store...and I am speaking of Philco
and his passion for CSC....whats the problem ???

Will
http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/clearcreekknives

Sorry Will. I misunderstood. I thought the link was part of your post and showed a knife Philco would really like.
I should make sure i am fully awake before i post. Please accept my apology.
kj

Jay that's a new one on me, never saw that one at the shop, Wally must have kept it well hidden lol. What a beauty!! First time I've seen alligator on a knife handle, and it looks GOOD. I always liked the scroll work they did on those knives, wish they'd have done it more often, it really dresses it up.

I think Harold tried armadillo on a couple of knives at one time, turned out to be a real pain to deal with, so he ended it with two. He had a couple of spare pieces laying on his bench for years as a reminder.

Eric

Eric, I have a knife in impala horn. Is that the stuff your thinking of???? I was going to ask you who did the work on the blade. What is that called? Only know one guy who does stuff like that. I will find out though. That is the only knife with alligator. He did not make a second or a sample.

Eric/Jay,

I too have a knife done in the Alligator skin....ha ha ha

I think it is a swing-guard, or maybe a drop point... but I will have to look again when I get home. In fact, Uncle Harold has the actual hide that was used minus the piece he used to make the knife handles. I know because I ended up taking the box it was in to my house (he put it in my truck with some other items he passed on to me) and he didn't realize it. I obviously returned that box to him...LOL

I will post a picture of the one I have as soon as I get the opportunity!

Tom

Tom, you been hiding a swing guard in alligator hide!! Now I don't feel so bad. Lol don't know how you got that passed me. Do share.

JAMESC41001 wrote:Eric, I have a knife in impala horn. Is that the stuff your thinking of???? I was going to ask you who did the work on the blade. What is that called? Only know one guy who does stuff like that. I will find out though. That is the only knife with alligator. He did not make a second or a sample.

Jay we did a some knives in impala, what I saw was definitely armadillo, I might even have some around here somewhere. That swirling was called engine turning or something to that effect, most likely it was Harold who did that. Very cool.

Eric

Mention of "Uncle Harold" is Harold Buley, Master Cutler i believe.
I have a CSC 2006 "North American Hunting Club Custom Folding Hunting Knife" which arrive with a little blade play. Still perfectly usable and each Fall i would get it out of the safe and commit to using it. But then i would re-check hoping that magically the blade play had gone. But it was still there, not loose or sloppy but slight side to side movement and feeling this, i would return the knife to the safe unused.
I kept the knife like this for 7 or 8 years before finally asking CSC if it could be fixed. "Absolutely, please send it to us", was the response.
I had not heard back by 4-5 months after i sent it so i emailed asking about it and was told "those are Harold's knives. He has retired now and only comes in on occasion. likely he will fix it on his next visit".
Sure enough a few weeks later my knife arrived, blade play gone. In fact the 'lock-up' is absolutely rock solid . Master Cutler Harold Buey did a masterful job. Thank you Harold. Sorry CSC is no longer actively with us.
kj

That's a cool knife. Great story to go with it. Thanks for posting that.

That's Uncle Harold, he is like a magician with knives...lol

And KJ....he really is my Uncle and I wish I had a fraction of his abilities.

Tom

Thank you for the comments. I understand Harold designed this knife as well as having built them himself. I think it is a great design and it is a very solid heavy duty knife that you can rely on 100%. I think he made 100 of these but i don't know if all sold.
kj

Got in later last night and went to my Canal Street corner, looking for my Alligator hide knife. No where to be found! I looked into my files and realized, when I returned the alligator hide to Uncle Harold I also gave him the knife. It made sense for him to have the knife that the hide was used to make it from.

My memory is fading.....Dang it

I will get a picture of the knife and the hide the next time I visit him!

Tom

I might beat you there Tom. Lol

This was a great canal street pattern. One of my favorite. The green bone knife is special to me. Jeanie was Dave Swinden's daughter and she was a great person. When I read stories about the history of women in the cutlery industry I think of her. She could sit at any station and do that job. If someone got cut Jean would patch them up. And a thousand other things. She had absolutely no problem handling herself around a bunch of rough knife shop guys. She tought me a lot. When she passed Wally was cleaning out her desk and found four of these green bone knives unsharpened. I asked him to set aside one for me and he did. The other two are unique in their own way. The middle one is marked Walden knife co, the other has no stamp and came straight out of Wally's knife roll. I believe it is the original sample for the pattern but I'm not positive.

Ha Tom

I have one of those Walden Tang Knives myself - a beautiful 2004 sambar stag whittler. I also know the full story about the Walden Tang stamp and those first knives.

There is a stash of them I've been after - I've seen them all - : ) - someone who beat you, James and me out by at least two miles

I will try to photograph my whittler for you guys -- I broke my danged wrist though -- so you are going to have to wait until i'm healed

This is a rescue. Was laying in a pile covered with dust on a work bench. Kind of rare I think. I have seen at least one other. Not sure how many they made With this union stamp. It don't walk and it won't talk but I like it. Go into any knife shop and even if the guy has made one knife there will be a bunch of cool knives laying around. The bigger the shop the more rejects, samples, projects and relics will be around. This always amazed me about CSC. I can only imagine what it looked like moving schrade into the ulster factory. And then moving them both plus imperial all to the new factory. Lots of knive a with a story to tell. All these years later they are still showing up.