[Okiecruffler]

I've been trying for 2 days, I'm just no good at this. I doubt any pic could do this thing justice anyway. Anyone not savy on the story, look for the "Chaps my behind" thread. It's closed, but worth the read. So here's the whole knife, finally went outside for some natural light...
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h234/okiecruffler/SF.jpg

And here's the best I could do on the edge, my camera usually takes pretty good close-ups, but not this close....
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h234/okiecruffler/100_2710.jpg

Amazing how even after years that knife settles right into my hand. I owe you guys.

[Todd A]

Very nice. The edge looks a thousand percent better than my Sharpfinger.

[Thernlund]

A little OT, but a side-bar can't hurt...

I always use natural light and a decent backdrop for photos. Usually I use one of a few leather coats I have. Sometimes I can scrounge up a good looking piece of cloth.

Your planks (persumably a table of some sort) make a good backdrop too. I ahve some old weather 2x4s arounnd that I'm going to try eventually.

Does your camera have a macro function? That'll get you good close-ups.


-T.

[TrapperReady]

Okie - Glad you like it! When I was waiting for it to return from Tourist, I thought the edge would be good. However, when I opened the package and looked at it, I was astounded.

I've got some sentimental knives around here... Dad's Marbles Woodcraft he got when he returned from WWII... his old Case Electrician knife... a couple fixed-blades I've set aside for the kids...

The next time I get a chance to head down towards Madison, I'm going to be giving Tourist a call and see if he can work his magic. Besides, I really want to see that East German camera of his. ;):D

[Okiecruffler]

Besides, I really want to see that East German camera of his.
That may be the problem with mine, I ran outta coal.
That edge is just this side of scary ain't it? The man is a master.

I'm not sure what all this camera has on it, I've been using it for about 3 years now but just kinda turn it on and click. It does have a close-up setting that I was using. I need to find the danged booklet.

[JShirley]

Nice. More than good enough to see it's damn sharp. :)

John

[The Tourist]

I'm going to be giving Tourist a call

...yes, I cannot wait to meet you and get to the bottom of this mystery. My sharpening stones are dirty and the better half of a bottle of Patron is missing.

Supposedly I'm a member of your forum...

[sm]

*smile*

Very nice!

This whole Sharpfinger for Okie experience is very nice!
I am so happy Okie has his knife, and that edge looks very nice indeed!

[Okiecruffler]

Okay, abit of a veer here, but didn't Schrade/Old Timer make a knife with the same shape blade, but a lot longer? Seems like I saw one once, but I may have just dreamed it.

[The Tourist]

The one thing I would tell the THR members is that 100% of the equipment I used on Okie's knife can be purchased right over the internet.

Obviously, there is a learning curve. However, many of the forum members here are mechanics, bullet casters, reloaders, gunsmiths and professional soldiers. All of these trades and skills require more knowledge and patience than that of a tinker.

Modern knives are expensive, but even the best sharpening tools are not--they are an investment, and they will add joy to your use as well as years of life to your cutting edges.

For years--even as a professional--I used tools from The Edge Pro. The owner, Mr. Ben Dale, is a sweetheart of a guy and now carries a wider variety of tools and attachments for professionals.

And BTW, I even encorporate Mothers Mag and Billet paste (just like you do on your matte' finish stainless revolvers) to fully remove the microscopic burrs on the edge of a knife during the final polishing.

The rest is sweat equity.

[sm]

Words of experience...

[Valkman]

Now that I got the bandsaw I wanted the next item I will get is an Edge Pro system. Seems to be well worth it. :)

[Todd A]

but didn't Schrade/Old Timer make a knife with the same shape blade, but a lot longer?

The 15ot Deerslayer has a similar blade shape, 6inch blade.

[Dave McCracken]

I love happy beginnings. Thanks for bettering my day.....

[Okiecruffler]

Yeah, the deerslayer, I knew I didn't just make it up. Me, I've always prefered the shortest blade that will get the job done.

[Todd A]

Me too. If you don't mind my pic in your thread...

My old ,humble,and compared to yours ..quite dull :D..,SC205

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v249/todda/sc205.jpg

[The Tourist]

Todd, the whole purpose of this story was to make THR a place that truly reflected the goals of helping each other. It's a very important aspect.

Contact me PM.

[sm]

Todd A,

Nice knife!
I remember those...

Listen, all you gotta do is get that old electric Montgomery Ward can opener, with the knife sharpener built in and them gray wheels going really fast will do a number on that knife in short order...

*runnin'-duckin'*

[Todd A]

Very funny.

It is sharp,just not highly polished super duper "The Tourist" scary sharp :)

Oh and please drop the "A".My friends just call me Todd.

[Okiecruffler]

Now that is a fine looking knife, shiny or not.

[alaskanativeson]

I has a Sharpfinger when I was much youger but have no idea what happened to it. Talking about them online made me nostalgic for one so I tracked one down on ebay and it just arrived:

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g235/Rodgersplace/OldTimer.jpg

It looks like I have a project for Tourist...

[wheelgunslinger]

I have one as well. It's a superb skinning knife for deer and does a great job on camping food prep too.
I don't have the tools to put a razor edge on it, but for what I do a good edge is really working for the tasks I use it for in the sticks.

But, I am jealous of the razor sharpness of that one. Very nice work.

[Okiecruffler]

Honestly, I don't know why I like them. Dad's right, the blade shape isn't the best for the job. But when I was looking to get my first serious knife all the fellas a few years older than me carried the sharpfinger (On their belts at school even) so that's what I had to get. Now it just feels natural.

[pbearperry]

I got a Sharpfinger years ago as a free gift along with a subscription to Guns and Ammo.It sharpens terrific but it too has a dull finish.The metal of the blade stains for some reason,however it works great dressing out Whitetails.

[Brian Williams]

I have one that I need to get sharp, I must get my Japanese Water stones out and do that as I have a canoe trip I am going on on Thursday
http://thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=78713&d=1211504537
Sorry about the gun in the pic.

[soccergod04]

pbearperry, if your knife is from the pre-China era, then it stains easily because it's carbon steal instead of the stainless that they use now.

[Todd A]

Yep. Mine is a blotchy grey from 25 years or so of use.Gotta love patina.:)

[TrapperReady]

When I sent Okie's knife to Tourist for sharpening, the blade had a bit of patina from breasting out some Canada geese a couple years ago. It's just a sign of a high-carbon non-stainless blade... which is a good thing IMO.

[Okiecruffler]

Call me crazy (the wife does) but I prefer the old carbon steel. It takes abit more care, but I like caring for things. Carbon seems to feel better on the stone and I can hold a consistant angle better. I know, it's all in my head.
I finally got around to reading the sticky on sharpening. Used that one side until you feel the bur method on my M16 tonight. Really did give me a better edge than my old 10 on one 10 on the other side like my pappy taught me. I can just never tell him that.

[The Tourist]

like my pappy taught me

Knife sharpening is a lot like picking women or working on cars. In other words, it's about the last thing your relatives know how to actually do, but they do it like they wrote the book.

I have seen more good steel ruined as the customer tells me, "My uncle taught me how to sharpen..."

Madison, Wisconsin at one time had one of the biggest Oscar Mayer pig kill floors in the United States. The place has long since been closed, but I still hear stories about the knives those boners (yes, that's the official name for a guy who cuts pigs) used to hone. "They were like razors, I tell ya'..." is the comment I always hear.

Well, those knives still exist. They were given out, or "liberated" by the staff who still live here, and they are still used to butcher deer.

Yikes. Perhaps one guy in twenty knew how to sharpen. After all, they were not hired as tinkers, they were hired to do piece-work. Take pigs apart.

And here's another dirty little secret. Many guys never sharpen anything. They buy a knife, take it out of the package and continue to use it until it is long since been dulled. But they don't know how to sharpen, so they leave it that way.

[sm]

*whups*

I bought a brand new Shrade Mighty Mite, once upon a time....
I opened it, and never ever again closed it, nor did it ever get sharpened.

Oh it might get wiped off, the dirt and dust cleaned out, but the role of that knife was to sit on a bench and just be used for whatever.

It was not abused, still it was used.
It had the neatest patina, and the handles had a real nice , smooth, worn feel to it.

I wish I still had that knife, it came up missing one day.
Heck I wish I had some more of the old ones like it, as those were just the neatest and handiest little buggers!
Just a really small pen knife, with a brass liner lock, 1095 , with the Old Timer brown Delrin handles.


About the time The Tourist and I sound like we are somewhat alike, I manage to post something that makes us complete opposites.

But hey, I really did have a knife that never needed sharpening!
*snicker*

[The Tourist]

About the time The Tourist and I sound like we are somewhat alike, I manage to post something that makes us complete opposites.

We'll never learn anything unless we investigate diverse ideas. Right now in anotehr forum I put out the word that I'm looking for actual time-period tools for samurai swords. I want to apply those methods in my work. Yikes, I watched a togi master polish a sword with a popsickle stick and some pumice he made with his finger and a wet rock.

But hey, I really did have a knife that never needed sharpening *snicker*

My Grahams come really close. In fact, I often "tickle the dragon" checking to see if the edge has degraded. I'm still on my first polish.

[sm]

It is all good.

What many forget, is the simple fact, tools are sharpened for tasks.
There is no "one size fits all" for every tool.

One does not buy just one saw to handle all sawing tasks.

A master watchmaker might use a Hercules [tm] 3/0 saw blade for one task, and a 8/0 for another.

The wood worker might have 15 different hand saws from Cross-cut to Ripping.

Then look at the teeth on a two man "Timber Saw".


Knives are the same way.
Steels differ, and because of metallurgy, respond, react if you will to different degrees of fine edge for tasks.

The fine Japanese knife a Chef uses, of fine stainless steel, is different from a 1075 Carbon steel used for a machete.

Other factors come into play, such as heat treat, thickness of blade, geometry...

Why can a SAK Classic, that was sharp out of the box, and has never been sharpened still cut?
This knife just sets in a office desk drawer, and it will still cut the plastic wrap off of piece of office equipment, or a mustard pack, package of crackers, and the like.

It might get "stropped" if you will on a piece of scrap cardboard, to get the mustard off, or some sticky tape.
It might even get taken down to the washroom and have some soap and water used to remove lighter fluid used to get the sticky tape off from opening a box...before used around food.

Thin is the key, and the reason why.
If this lady ever remembers to take a small stone to work, or bring it home it will see a stone.
A Rapela "V" sharpener design impedes getting that small blade all the way inserted, still if one "sands" the sharpener down, more blade will fit.

Still she only paid $6 for this knife years ago, and the scissors get used, and the nail file gets used.
This is the old style with the screw in the scissors, and did not come with toothpick and tweezers.


One of her lady friends has a new made in China Shrade.
Just office desk knife, and there was this "mutant ninja desk drawer" in the supply room.
It was touch and go for a bit, still the knife won this battle, suffering some nicks and all...

I suggested that double grit, padded, emery board , and the Chinee, single blade, small pen knife is good to go again.

Sixty nine cent jobbie at the checkout of the Stop & Rob.
Purple side is coarse, teal blue is finer, and strop on the magazine ad for Batman on the label of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup.

Proper way to test edge retention is to cut chocolate bon-bons.

See? I come in handy, as you just don't get stuff like this from a Sword Forum.


*grin*

[The Tourist]

What many forget, is the simple fact, tools are sharpened for tasks. There is no "one size fits all" for every tool.

I would tend to agree. And I use the word 'tend' deliberately. A jackknife isn't much good as a singular survival knife, unless we bring a SERE into the picture. Self defense blades (not my specialty, I admit) could come from many countries with many different MA disciplines.

Now to that word 'tend.' I put the Graham Ringed Razel in a whole 'nuther category. You know the old debate, "If you were on a desert island and you could only have one kind of frankfurter..."

Well, if I could only have one knife, it would be the Razel. Part razor, part chisel, part brass knuckles and part Paul Bos. Now, that is truly a singular exception to the rule. Not really a good example for a general debate. Most times, sm, I agree with you--or at least the manner in which you defend an issue.

The fine Japanese knife a Chef uses, of fine stainless steel, is different

Yikes, Japanese knives are worlds apart from each other! A Damask might have over 300 layers and cost 1,500 just for a kitchen knife for normal housewives. A deba might be white steel and rust if you look at it cross-eyed. Nothing I have ever done in a course of study is as frustating (and rewarding) is this Japanese craft.

One of her lady friends has a new made in China Shrade.

Ya' know, sm, I wished you lived in my area. I'd show you the Chinese Old Timer I did a few days ago. Granted, it would have to be stropped more often, with a complete sharpening after a few weeks of "blue collar" use. However, I'd take one to Sturgis. It locks fine, took an edge, and is more than stout enough to last a week at Buffalo Chip--a place to sample vomit from all points of the globe.

See? I come in handy, as you just don't get stuff like this from a Sword Forum.

...if for no other reason than to serve as a bad example.:D

I find I have to keep my ear to all kinds of forums, if only periodically. The cutlery industry is getting incredibly diverse. In fact, I found out about the new CRKT Razel from a knife magazine, news that must have been three months old. (BTW, a sample is winging it's way to me.)

But I think the old Japanese ways of sharpening are clearly the best. In fact, we cannot even duplicate some steels with modern techniques, the info is lost to history.

We even have am acronym for that knowledge in the sharpening forum. We call it BLMBRM. It stands for "bent little man with a bucket of red mud." Samurai swords are made from washing down the mud in one river for the iron content. An urban legend states that extraction of this "mud" is now controlled, it has become a national treasure.

[sm]

I'd take a Mueller tool steel 44 flat graver.

Tasks would determine how I would shape and sharpen that graver.
From shaving the peach fuzz off a peach, to cutting a perfect polished cut on the receiver of a Perazzi, to one beautiful curl of wood from a nice piece of hardwood, to use on Ivory.

Maybe the task was not a flat cut, instead a cut more angled, free hand get the angle to fit task, such as a "relief" or "shadow" for a design cut in platinum, gold, steel, ivory, stag, bone...

Take a Mueller tool steel 52 point graver, and again shape and sharpen to task, delicate scrimshaw work, or even on thin gold leaf, as used for signs on doors and having the ittiest bittiest "accents" cut with that graver.

It had to be sharp, because a light touch is still too much pressure with gold leaf.

Take a real flower, such as rose, or tulip and again used these Mueller and other tool steel gravers, shaped and sharpened and the ladies initials were hand engraved into a petal.
Which remained, and showed after being gold plated.

A new edge needed to be set on some steel knives, IIRC Shrade Walden and Queen at the time.

I used a tool steel 44 flast to cut the edges, precise, no stropping, no nothing, just a fun way to sharpen a knife by hand.

Apprentice stage still, and one of the things I was doing to learn skill sets, and about metals and sharpening.

Mentor used his CV bladed Case Peanut to sharpen a stainless blade the lesson being " skill sets trump some notions about things".

Time passes and the Bond Daddy era with Rolexs and Cocaine.
Well in some work I did, besides my day presence, I had a need for a razor blade.
Blending in, playing the game, I wanted to find the person that had shot one of our own.
I had knowledge of things, knew the lingo and the like, so I insisted on assisting UC cops.

18k yellow razor blade, I made by hand, and sharpened with a tool steel graver.
It was scary sharp, not only would it cut a line of coke, it was a plain site hide-a-way knife.
It looked good with the 18k yg Patek on my arm, and the 18 yg curb link bracelet on the other.

The lady UC cop, had a 18 yellow fixed blade knife, small, I made.
Oh it looked mighty fine, and scary sharp, just it blended in with playing the game, and many just thought it it was for show...
Nope.
Serious tool for series settings in a world where folks get shot, and large sums of money and cocaine is the deal.

I appreciate fine things, and the craftsman that goes into them.
Mentor had the skills to hand engrave a Colt Detective for instance, I had reached the skill sets to do a polish job on another Colt Detective special, using hand methods, not powered tools.
The deep dark bluing on the old guns, is because of Master Polishers being able to polish the metal, so that bluing does what it does.

I don't share where I've been , or what I know about a lot of my life, I simply cannot, security risk, pure and simple.

There exists a Code if you will.
One passes forward, then again at some point, this passing forward is for like kind.

A Professional Sharpener or "tinker" may not share on a public forum some things, but he will with a Master Watchmaker, or Hand Engraver of guns.
Maybe a IT wizard, or Surgeon...

Apprenticeship, earned skill sets, and mutual respect of another having done the same thing, even though in another area.

I rarely wear a watch, and somewhere around here is a Old Hickory paring knife still the way it was when bought, as I never sharpened it.
One of these days I might even put an new razor blade into a carton cutter I have around here too...

I've worn the Patek, Rolex, Omega, and carried Ivory handled knives one would be scared of the edge...

I am sipping coffee from a Styrofoam cup, still I have done the same from a Crystal, or 18k yellow gold with Platinum handle one too.
Neatest coffee cup I had, was all Platinum...

It is all good, and I have my druthers.
My deal is to pass forward that folks need to investigate and verify for them.
They have a right to be them, they are unique and special.
Just have a respect for others, whether they carry and prefer something more expensive or something less expensive and traditional.

I know what a piece of tool steel will do sharpened free hand on a stone.
I also know some that have tried to buy skill and targets with things, such as knives and doo-dads to sharpen, and they cannot get an edge, nor will the knife cut.

It gets back to correct basic fundamentals, it always does.
One earns the skill sets, the feel , the look of an edge.
Once they earn this, they can sharpen with a stone, or doo-dad, or whatever.

They can polish with Semichrome on cardboard, or green rouge on chamois leather, or use special diamond past on glass.

Still, if one does not have the correct basics...they cannot do, even with the best doo-dads, on the market.

Can't buy it - gotta earn it. - me

[The Tourist]

Can't buy it - gotta earn it. - me

The only things worth anything are earned. I don't wear a watch either, I find it makes my movements and my work "forced." If I don't want to get out of bed to sharpen your knife--but the clock on the wall tells it's time--what kind of a job do you think I'll do? I have done some nice stuff at 0300 and change.

Curse of the tinker.

[sm]

Curse of the tinker.

Talents of a free thinker.

*smile*

WE are brothers in this brotherhood.

Even if do have this Quikut [tm] "Quikkle" Stainless, Made in USA steak knife, serrated blade with "genuine imitation ivory" handle, circa 1960.
I don't think I had started the 1st grade when we got this set.
Only two are left to my knowledge.

Never been sharpened, at least not the one I have.
Still I made some head way on some hedges by sawing little limbs as a brat.

It still cuts Vienna Sausage and a 'Mater to make a mean Vienna Sausage & "Mater Sammich at 3am.

It will still even clean panfish and the like too...dull as it is.

I had this talent as a brat for always finding the "good" spoon, fork, or knife in the utility drawer.
It did not matter which one I grabbed, it was always the "good one" *grin*

I mean I do not think I ever used a "bad one" out in the yard or wherever I took off with something.

Oh I could use something else, still at 3am, doing something that needs doing, I will grab that old knife, and make a sammich, even stir my instant coffee, and think back to when I was "learning stuff" coming up.


The one I have...memories.
I had a snake one time where I wanted to play, so I took the garden hoe and chopped off its head.

Not a big snake, still big enough, and I had this knife and it made sense at the time to see if I could skin a snake.

FWIW a neighbor that comes out to see what a little boy is up to - again, will sorta freak out and forget all about "what are you doing with that good knife?"
Mom was real impressed with my snake skinning job... real impressed.

She never understood I was born a Tinker.

*grin*

[The Tourist]

She never understood I was born a Tinker.

Funny that you should write your last post at this time.

I have been exchanging PM's with a woman I knew at a Harley forum. She saw my "Tourist" handle and wondered if I was the same biker. We had become friends in that forum because the "real bikers" often made her feel that her contributions were less than welcomed. I encouraged her to post often.

The issue is one which you and hso often touch upon. In other words, we should have a standard. That standard should always translate into a brotherhood. In the final analysis, if you know the tool, if know the action, then you know the man.

So this biker came here.

She has related to me that she never felt like a biker--although she rides everyday and shoots on the weekend. Yikes, most of the "bros" in that forum didn't even own motorcycles, that's why I departed.

Oh, we might joke--that's the fun aspect--but in the end, the true THR member delivers. And that value seems to attract bikers, tinkers, target shooters, MA guys and flat out collectors. You get tired of the BS and broken promises.

I was also born a tinker and a biker. My Dad relates that I made knives from Tinker-Toys and always looked up upon hearing the rumble of a V-twin. Odd behavior for a toddler. (I disappeared one morning, and my parents found me in an alley, admiring a panhead.)

So, indeed I have "the curse." But at the end of the day, I'd rather be a tinker than the "bikers" who haunt that former forum.

[sm]

I am just a dumb southern boy.
I am nobody, never wanted to be anybody and still do not want to be somebody.

I just want to be content.

If someone walks in the door and announces they have arrived- they have just informed everyone they have never taken the first step forward on the journey of the true meaning of life.

My family to this day does not know about some aspects of my life, and never will.
I have "knacks", that is term I grew up using.

A person has a "knack" for sharpening knives.
Another has a "knack" being a watchmaker - not a parts changer, a watchmaker, meaning they will actually make a part to fit a Patek, Rolex, Omega, Corum...even a Bulova nurse's watch.

A person has a "knack" engraving , be this by hand, using a Hermes, or a computer aided laser machine.

Someone has a "knack" in diagnosing health problems, another in tailoring physical therapy, another has surgery skills and...

Tinker, one having "knacks" , or any other term , still the bottom line there is a brotherhood of men and women, from professional sharpeners, watchmakers, wood workers, mechanics, machinists, surgeons, gun smiths, to you name it, that while they use their respective "knacks" , "tinkering" with various people, places and things...they have a bond.

Some of the most wonderful wood work , vehicle restoration, meals prepared, paintings done, etc,. were those by a doctor, or medical professional.
Veterinarians, just a old country boy and later his daughter, had a knack for doing wood work for clocks.
The master watchmaker and clockmaker, did the movements, and the Vets did the wood to house them.

CRNA [certified nurse anesthsiologist] was into old motorcycles, and restored some Norton's Triumphs, and then got this wild hair to take gas powered washing machine motor and make a "motor bike".
His daddy and uncle shared how they did this coming up.
[and the trouble they got into with them motor bikes]

Neatest thing one ever did see, and it worked!

Tinker.
Knacks.

A master watchmaker will fix a antique locket , a family heirloom, with a hinge worn through.
Just as he has countless times for a pocket watch case.
With a Hoke torch, Hercules saw blades, some Gold, make a tube, and pin.
He will solder this, and leave no solder lines.
He polished this gold before soldering, and used boric acid and alcohol to prevent /lessen oxygen given this piece a firecoat.
Sulphuric acid or imitation sulpheric acid "pickle" called Sparex [tm] will remove the coating, and allow any firecoat to be polished.

Then he antiques, blends in, to match the decades of use and it is real difficult to see a new hinge was installed on a old heirloom.

This old boy has his knacks, and respects the knack of the one that rebuilds a old motorcycle - and vice versa.

I keep harping - one cannot buy skill and targets.


True.
Oklahoma City Bombing and a Ortho surgeon was waiting for victims.
He was consulting and coordinating what all was coming in...

A lady was trapped and he was summoned.
He had his Ortho tools for travel, ready to go.
Including what needed to amputate.

He went into harms way, and the ladies leg was going to have to be amputated, debris was too much, to heavy to move, to insure safety for her, and first responders.

In fact, a few times with the shift of the rubble, first responders almost aborted efforts to save the lady.

Surgeon stayed.
His tools, would not work in the confined space.
He had special tools, sharp tools, and they would not work.
He used his Case Peanut to amputate that ladies leg at the knee.
His skill sets, earned, and a little bit of sharp steel, is what saved that ladies life, though she had to sacrifice a leg.

[The Tourist]

...sm, you have to write a book...

[JShirley]

Well, thread drift continues, but one of the sergeants I worked with some over in Afghanistan was a fireman. I was told he had been treated for PTSD from responding to the Oklahoma bombing.

I didn't quite understand, until we started talking about it one day. I had to ask him to stop pretty quickly. :(

A good, soft-hearted, upright, straight shooting man. I saw him tear up one day, because he was on a convoy, and saw a little Afghan national boy- in snow on the ground weather- without any socks. He hadn't noticed until it was too late to toss the kid the extra pair of socks he had in his pocket. I hope he's well.

John

[Okiecruffler]

No one who worked the Murrah Bombing will ever forget it, or sit around speaking of it for long. Anyone who wonders why we are overseas needs to remember that bombings like that are everyday fears for the people who have to live amoung those savages. The fact that it was one of our own only makes it that more horrid.

[Poor East Texan]

Looky what I found today...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/PlayboyJoeShmoe/WinchesterSharpfinger.jpg

It is amazingly sharp considering...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/PlayboyJoeShmoe/WinchesterSharpfingerII.jpg

It's a dang Winchester!

The Winchesters I have seen at Walmart have NEVER impressed me. I found this among dozens and dozens of blister packed knives at Academy Sports. There are other GOOD looking Wins and some nice Gerbers too.

The edge where it's sharp (no blade coating) looks like decent steel. Not overly shiny like crappy stainless...

[Okiecruffler]

Now that's an interesting piece. I never really understood those undersized scales. Feel kinda funny to the hand, but they do make a knife look more serious.