sunburst wrote:justold52 wrote:For right now I am going to say my FAVERATE Trapper (that I own is).
This Colin Paterson Custom.
Whew!!! Ken that is one incredible knife

That abalone is fantastic and the filework is to die for..
Sunburst
Yes indeed. The thing about red or green abalone is it is a west coast special. In California there is no commercial fishing of abalone allowed for the last 10 years. It does not look like there will be any commercial fishing for abalone anytime in the near future. There are red and green abalone populations in Mexico, most believe they are over fished. There is a small population of red abalone only in southern Oregon, sport fishing only.
The Paua abalone in New Zealand is in danger of losig it's commercial season also, with the annual take calculated at 85% as being illegally harvested or undersized. Obviously, the fishery can't handle this pressure as it takes an abalone about 14 years to reach the minimum size limit.
To use abalone as knife handles, only 2% of shells, at best are usable for knives. What is commonly used now is
laminated abalone sheets and veneers. Now I have seen
1/8 inch thick sheet (9 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches) of red abalone selling for about $1800.00 and 3/16 selling for $2795.00 if you can find it. They have run out of red abalone shell and it is very unlikely that they will get more. The major supplier was California and abalone hasn't been commercially harvested for 10 years. Only Mexico can supply a few. We still have a sport season and free divers can take 24 in a year and only 3 in posession at any one time. Selling ANY part of the sport caught abalone can land you in PRISON for 3 years, not jail,
PRISON under the charge of conspiracy against the state of California.
What dos all this mean? It's my opinon that abalone handled knives will go the way of the tortise shell knives of bygone years. At some point, they will not be able to make any, due to supply for one. Prices should continue to rise for rawshell. I do not believe that farm raised abalone will be old enough to have an abalone heart pattern, that comes from the center of large shells only.
I've been an abalone diver for a long time and have seen a lot of changes. I do expect to see abaloe handled kives to fetch a lage premium in the future. Since this is my favorite sport I do keep track of world trends.
It is
pronounced ab-baloney or
ab-ba-lonee , like the lunch meat. I saw that knife show on TV last night (bored

and they pronounce it wrong). I always hear it pronounced wrong.
I do see
investment potential in abalone handled knives. At this time, there is already less abalone available for knives than there is Mammoth or Mastodon Ivory.
If anyone has any abalone questons please feel free to ask me.