Birth stone knife

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Sut Tatersaul
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Birth stone knife

Post by Sut Tatersaul »

I have been thinking about a knife containing my birth stone. My birth date is in December, and December's birth stone is turquoise. I would like your opinions, on knife types, and makers, that incorporate turquoise in the construction of their knives. To make my question even more difficult, who are the makers that give the most knife for the money? Thanks.
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Quick Steel
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Re: Birth stone knife

Post by Quick Steel »

From the American Gem Society

"December’s birthstones offer three ways to fight the winter blues: tanzanite, zircon and turquoise – all of them, appropriately, best known for beautiful shades of blue.

These gems range from the oldest on earth (zircon), to one of the first mined and used in jewelry (turquoise), to one of the most recently discovered (tanzanite).

All of these stones are relatively inexpensive, but their beauty rivals even precious gems. Colorless zircon is a convincing replacement for diamond, tanzanite often substitutes sapphire, and turquoise is unmatched in its hue of robin’s egg blue."

JC Penny says the December stone is Blue Topaz. I'd stay with the Gem Society.
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Turquoise is widely used in Native American jewlery. Both David and Brian Yellowhorse do very fine work on the handles/scales.I cannot speak to the blades themselves. I have a 3 blade Trapper from DY. Beautiful work but made on a United Cutlery frame.

StoneWorks out of Santa Fe {I think.] does meticulous work on the handles.You or they will have to supply the basic knife. Check the websites of DY-BY and Stone Works. Perhaps they have something already available. Good luck!
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jerryd6818
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Re: Birth stone knife

Post by jerryd6818 »

David Yellowhorse would be the first that comes to my mind. ---> http://www.yellowhorsecollectibles.com/
There are others but I can't remember them at present.
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Railsplitter
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Re: Birth stone knife

Post by Railsplitter »

I've never owned one but I've often admired knives re-handled by Santa Fe Stoneworks. Might be worth looking into if you have a knife that would make a good candidate for a re-handle. They seem to do nice work but I've never dealt with them myself.
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Railsplitter
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Re: Birth stone knife

Post by Railsplitter »

I own a couple of knives by Mike Alsdorf and he makes a great knife. The Gunstock in the link below would look fantastic in turquoise.

http://alsdorfcustomcutlery.com/gallery ... chite.html
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Re: Birth stone knife

Post by mrwatch »

caution make sure it is real turquoise. lot's of fake jewelry out there. not sure how scratch proof it is and men's rings was a big deal in the 1970's.
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Re: Birth stone knife

Post by jerryd6818 »

In regards to MrWatch's post, I found this;

Gems and minerals are assigned a number for hardness level between 1 and 10, 1 being the lowest and 10 the highest. This higher the number the harder the material. A fingernail is around 2.5 and a diamond is a 10.

Turquoise has a hardness of between 3 and 6 generally dependent on the quality of the stone and enhancement. As a point of reference a standard piece of glass has a hardness of around 5.5. Low quality natural turquoise called chalk can be scratched easily and can have a hardness of around 3. In order for turquoise to be properly used in jewelry it should have a hardness of at least 3. Stabilizing processes can be used the bring the hardness of low quality turquoise up to a 3.5 or more. Quality natural stones have a hardness between 5 and 6 without any help.
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"The #72 pattern has got to be pretty close to the perfect knife."
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Re: Birth stone knife

Post by americanedgetech »

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Re: Birth stone knife

Post by knife7knut »

I only have two knives that have turquoise in the handles;although I do have a custom belt buckle knife that has turquoise and coral in the buckle itself. One is a custom folder by Frank Carlisle of Detroit who I think may be deceased now. I bought it at an antique shop in Chelsea last summer. The other is a tiny Rough Rider lockback.
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americanedgetech
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Re: Birth stone knife

Post by americanedgetech »

What a GREAT buckle.
I have a thing for those little skinners... ::tu::
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Re: Birth stone knife

Post by knife7knut »

americanedgetech wrote:What a GREAT buckle.
I have a thing for those little skinners... ::tu::
Thank you sir! I also have a miniature skinner mounted(permanently)on a piece of picture jasper that is a bolo tie also made by the Nolen Brothers.
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americanedgetech
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Re: Birth stone knife

Post by americanedgetech »

That is nice!
I have a couple of "neck knives" but I wear mine under my shirt.

I think I'm scary enough already... :wink:
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Re: Birth stone knife

Post by mrwatch »

thanks Jerry D. what I was referring to is an artificial about how much fake Turquoise jewelry is being imported where you can scratch the surface off leaving white base material. I do not know if this would apply to any imported knife materials. I should still have a very large men's from when I used to do antique shows. Probably fit my thumb. The owner of the small antique mall in town say's she sells a lot of it. I remember when it was hot in the 1970's they said it was made by locally found Turquoise by American Indians and a man brought rings for sale to show my boss but I do not know what the prices where.
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