Tuna Valley Picture Show

[QTCut5]

I'm currently somewhat physically incapacitated with severely limited mobility due to a recent major surgery I had last month so knife photography is difficult for me at the moment, but I was fortunate enough to snag this beautiful Titusville "Bradshaw" Red Birdseye Maple Teardrop from Rookie's exclusive SFO awhile back and I've been wanting to show it off. This morning I looked out the window of the place I'm staying way high up in the mountains of Northern CA (near lake Tahoe) while I heal and recuperate in the healthy alpine air and I noticed a Red Maple sapling growing right outside that I thought would make the perfect backdrop for my beautiful new knife. Unfortunately, the window has a screen on it that refused to let me get the maple sapling in focus, but at least I was able to show off my knife's gorgeous Red Birdseye Maple handle (be sure to expand the photo to the maximum size in order to fully appreciate the detail of the highly-figured handle on this amazing piece of fine cutlery).

Many thanks to Rookie for allowing me to purchase one of his very special limited edition knives. Mine is serial number 17 and I absolutely LOVE it! It will most likely be the last knife I purchase for the foreseeable future and I can't imagine a more appropriate knife for me to end on.

[Ivoryman]

Way to score one of those beauties Q. Excellent wood grain and color. Sweet looking knife, as is the pic. Cool tube too. Looks like beautiful scenery to me you're looking at, glad you're getting some R&R in a place that's so beautiful. Hope all is going well with recovery and take it easy bro. Speedy recovery to you and best wishes for the healing time. Hope it doesn't keep you down too long, gonna miss the knife pics for a while. Godspeed on the rehab and getting back to normal and thanks for the update. All the best, well wishes and prayers to ya Bro.

[Rookie]

Fabulous EZO TDrop Rookie. Incredible show. Showstoppers really.

Thank you I-Man! I enjoy the friendship I've built through knives with a lot of guys I've never met. I hope someday my path crosses with a lot of folks from AAPK, and BF, and Facebook and we can shake hands in person.

I'm currently somewhat physically incapacitated with severely limited mobility due to a recent major surgery I had last month so knife photography is difficult for me at the moment, but I was fortunate enough to snag this beautiful Titusville "Bradshaw" Red Birdseye Maple Teardrop from Rookie's exclusive SFO awhile back and I've been wanting to show it off. This morning I looked out the window of the place I'm staying way high up in the mountains of Northern CA (near lake Tahoe) while I heal and recuperate in the healthy alpine air and I noticed a Red Maple sapling growing right outside that I thought would make the perfect backdrop for my beautiful new knife. Unfortunately, the window has a screen on it that refused to let me get the maple sapling in focus, but at least I was able to show off my knife's gorgeous Red Birdseye Maple handle (be sure to expand the photo to the maximum size in order to fully appreciate the detail of the highly-figured handle on this amazing piece of fine cutlery).

Many thanks to Rookie for allowing me to purchase one of his very special limited edition knives. Mine is serial number 17 and I absolutely LOVE it! It will most likely be the last knife I purchase for the foreseeable future and I can't imagine a more appropriate knife for me to end on.

QT I'm glad you got the knife, and you've got a nice part of the country to enjoy while recuperating. I hope you bounce back quickly. Thank you again for purchasing 1 of them, and I'm honored that you are enjoying it. Thank you for the touching review. I am a bit overwhelmed by the amount of people who reached out to me in support of this knife project, and then again after the passing of my grandfather who started my interest in knives. I carry knife #11 in my pocket, and let grandpa hold it the day before he passed. He smiled when I showed it to him.

[Madmarco]

That beautiful Maple colored knife is you, ~Q~, from tip to butt-end!
We expect nothing less from you considering your good taste in cutlery!
Sorry to hear you're laid-up, but it sounds like you've set yourself up to be comfortable during your recovery, as you should.
I see the red Maple tree in the background, even if the screen is there too, it's a great shot for that particular knife.
Feel better soon, my friend!

[knifeaddict1965]

Glad to see you scored one of those beauties Q and it's good to see you up and posting again my friend. Hope your recovery is going well and you can get out and enjoy some of that clean mountain air and beautiful scenery. Thanks for the update and best wishes on a fast and full recovery brother.

[doglegg]

Sweet knife Q. Get well soon.

[Quick Steel]

Q, thank you for making the effort to post your very fine looking knife. Praying that you will have minimal discomfort and abundant patience as you recuperate.

[Rookie]

Continuing on with the Easy Open Teardrop knives, here are a few prototypes made for the teardrop pattern. One is in red dyed maple burl. The other is in elk, that was made for one of the owners of the trademark. Both only 1 piece made.

[Quick Steel]

Two more awesome knives, Carl. Wonderful acquisitions, congratulations are in order.

[Ivoryman]

Very nice Elk, and that Maple is pretty snazzy too. Knocking it out of the park bud.

[Rookie]

Two more awesome knives, Carl. Wonderful acquisitions, congratulations are in order.

Very nice Elk, and that Maple is pretty snazzy too. Knocking it out of the park bud.

Thank you both!

[Rookie]

This is a neat one. 1 piece proto Boy's Knife, that never went into production. This has lightning wood handles.

[QTCut5]

This is a neat one. 1 piece proto Boy's Knife, that never went into production. This has lightning wood handles.

Carl, I haven't commented on any of your last few knives, but that's not because they aren't worthy of adulation; they most definitely are. But there is one thing bugging me about some of them that I hope you can help me to understand: Why would your buddy Ryan Daniels have only one knife made then choose not to put it into production? Certainly I'm not the only one who believes any/all of these would be highly popular to the collector demographic and guaranteed to sell out within hours if not minutes of their release, especially given the limited numbers TV typically produces in each run.

[Rookie]

This is a neat one. 1 piece proto Boy's Knife, that never went into production. This has lightning wood handles.

Carl, I haven't commented on any of your last few knives, but that's not because they aren't worthy of adulation; they most definitely are. But there is one thing bugging me about some of them that I hope you can help me to understand: Why would your buddy Ryan Daniels have only one knife made then choose not to put it into production? Certainly I'm not the only one who believes any/all of these would be highly popular to the collector demographic and guaranteed to sell out within hours if not minutes of their release, especially given the limited numbers TV typically produces in each run.

I can't speak to what went on during the Queen era. There were a lot of factors at that time of what went into deciding production.

Since Ryan and his wife started their own business making knives (2020-present) Ryan likes to try new patterns and show them around to people in the knife industry, dealers, etc. And also take the prototype to knife shows and get feedback from knife collectors. He is actively changing production and designs based on feedback, trying to create what people are asking for.

There is also the limitation of only so much material and time for what knives can get made per year. The small operation doesn't allow for 1000 knives per month, so the focus is on a pattern that he knows the dealers will be eager to sell, and that the collectors will be eager to buy. It also needs to provide enough variety to make variations to keep the pattern exciting until the next one is available. So picking a frame you can do a jack or a barlow style, switch blade types, do a single blade or a double blade, etc. Typically there are 400-800 pieces made at a time (springs, liners, blades) which then turn into 50 piece runs over the next 6-12 months.

Sometimes a pattern is too similar to others. Maybe if a giant pattern, there isn't a way to get enough handle material in larger sizes within a short enough timeframe. Maybe a dealer requested a certain pattern, but didn't follow through with committing to take a large enough quantity. And maybe after making a few pieces it just didn't give a wow-factor that was worth the money/time/material investment that could be used elsewhere.

A good part about the way Ryan runs his operation is that there are no tooling expenses. So it is easy to run a 3 piece test-prototype and see what he thinks about it. Tweak it if necessary. Scrap the idea if necessary. The benefits of modern CAD design and laser cutting.

[Ivoryman]

This is a neat one. 1 piece proto Boy's Knife, that never went into production. This has lightning wood handles.

Man that might be the coolest wood I have ever seen. Lightning wood like from a real lightning strike? If so what species is that? If not they simulated it pretty well. Excellent look and colors and bet that feels fabulous to the touch. Killer score and thanks for showing, never seen anything like that in a wood before.

[Rookie]

This is a neat one. 1 piece proto Boy's Knife, that never went into production. This has lightning wood handles.

Man that might be the coolest wood I have ever seen. Lightning wood like from a real lightning strike? If so what species is that? If not they simulated it pretty well. Excellent look and colors and bet that feels fabulous to the touch. Killer score and thanks for showing, never seen anything like that in a wood before.

It is a piece of walnut, although I've seen it in maple also. No, not a real lightning strike. They hook electrodes up to opposite ends of a block of wood and run current through it, but there is a fine science to it. If you go too short, you don't get much lightning character, and if you go too long, the whole block catches on fire and chars. I think they are really neat, and no 2 pieces ever look the same.

[Ivoryman]

This is a neat one. 1 piece proto Boy's Knife, that never went into production. This has lightning wood handles.

Man that might be the coolest wood I have ever seen. Lightning wood like from a real lightning strike? If so what species is that? If not they simulated it pretty well. Excellent look and colors and bet that feels fabulous to the touch. Killer score and thanks for showing, never seen anything like that in a wood before.

It is a piece of walnut, although I've seen it in maple also. No, not a real lightning strike. They hook electrodes up to opposite ends of a block of wood and run current through it, but there is a fine science to it. If you go too short, you don't get much lightning character, and if you go too long, the whole block catches on fire and chars. I think they are really neat, and no 2 pieces ever look the same.

Ahhhhhh, they are very cool, and thanks for the info on how they make them. That must be an art, and they did an amazing job of it on yours. Masters at the craft.

[Rookie]

Man that might be the coolest wood I have ever seen. Lightning wood like from a real lightning strike? If so what species is that? If not they simulated it pretty well. Excellent look and colors and bet that feels fabulous to the touch. Killer score and thanks for showing, never seen anything like that in a wood before.

It is a piece of walnut, although I've seen it in maple also. No, not a real lightning strike. They hook electrodes up to opposite ends of a block of wood and run current through it, but there is a fine science to it. If you go too short, you don't get much lightning character, and if you go too long, the whole block catches on fire and chars. I think they are really neat, and no 2 pieces ever look the same.

Ahhhhhh, they are very cool, and thanks for the info on how they make them. That must be an art, and they did an amazing job of it on yours. Masters at the craft.

The last few years the Queen factory in Titusville was still making knives, they started bringing out this handle material. I'm not sure who the maker is, but I agree he is a master at the craft.

[Rookie]

Getting back to showing more knife picks, here is Smoked Pearl, Brown Maple Burl, Smooth Orange Bone.

[Quick Steel]

That is an interesting collection, Rookie. Mine tend to escape from me. I'll try and find any I have.

[Rookie]

That is an interesting collection, Rookie. Mine tend to escape from me. I'll try and find any I have.

I always liked the picks. They are inexpensive, and show a lot of variety of handle types and colors. They make for a nice display.

Here are a few more of the picks with a variety of handles.
Gold Maple Burl
Mother of Pearl
Marvel Wood

[Rookie]

Another group of knife picks for today.
Apple Spice burl wood
Orange Maple Burl
Blue Camel Bone

[Quick Steel]

Carl, your collection continues to amaze by its quality and diversity.

[Rookie]

Carl, your collection continues to amaze by its quality and diversity.

Thanks QS, my goal was to show a little at a time. It keeps the thread going, and I think keeps folks more interested, rather than just dump all the photos all at once.

[Rookie]

1 last pick to show here, and we'll move on to something else next time.
Smooth Light Orange Bone