Guardians of The Lambsfoot!

scrteened porch said:

Nice to hear other people are still using neat's-foot oil on leather. Some people claim it dissolves leather, though the can says it preserves leather. I've never found it to dissolve leather.

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Really? I've not had any problems with it either, though it does soften leather, which is not always what you want with walking boots

I think someone on the forums has said that, and when I told a non-member dealer that I was going to dip the sheath of my incoming knife in NFO, he said "hold thy desperate hand!", or words to that effect.

[Edited to make my reference more obscure, in case I'm maligning the guy. It is a long time since I bought that knife.]

Lambsfoot content. That black one I've been fooling with needs a little rounding, I see.

scrteened porch said:

I think someone on the forums has said that, and when I told a non-member dealer in scandinavian knives that I was going to dip the sheath of my incoming puukko in NFO, he said "hold thy desperate hand!", or words to that effect.

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LOL!

I've never used neats foot oil but I did post earlier that the coconut oil worked great on the leather softened it right up and smells good too. And r8shell that picture you posted the top knife I really like,I bet it's very comfortable to use. I'm going to look it up later. Also the patina you have going is great working on mine as I type cutting a apple.

gonebad395 said:

I've never used neats foot oil but I did post earlier that the coconut oil worked great on the leather softened it right up and smells good too. And r8shell that picture you posted the top knife I really like,I bet it's very comfortable to use. I'm going to look it up later.

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There's a whole Ettrick thread Keith - https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/what-is-the-definition-of-ettrick.1119303/ (posting the link because the new BF Seach function is so useless!)

Thanks jack looks like I'll be reading tonight

Jack Black said:

There's a whole Ettrick thread Keith - https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/what-is-the-definition-of-ettrick.1119303/ (posting the link because the new BF Seach function is so useless!)

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gonebad395 said:

Thanks jack looks like I'll be reading tonight

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I hope it's a good read!

scrteened porch said:

Nice to hear other people are still using neat's-foot oil on leather. Some people claim it dissolves leather, though the can says it preserves leather. I've never found it to dissolve leather.

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That is so strange... Considering that neatsfoot oil is still sold in leather shops and is recommended for the conditioning and preservation of leather, I find it rather bizarre that someone would claim it dissolves leather...

Rest assured though, it does no such thing, I've been using it for many years on sheaths, holsters, belts, bags, boots, etc. It is readily available and effective!

(Lambsfoot content, I snapped a pic on lunch today)

Pàdruig said:

That is so strange... Considering that neatsfoot oil is still sold in leather shops and is recommended for the conditioning and preservation of leather, I find it rather bizarre that someone would claim it dissolves leather...

Rest assured though, it does no such thing, I've been using it for many years on sheaths, holsters, belts, bags, boots, etc. It is readily available and effective!

(Lambsfoot content, I snapped a pic on lunch today)

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Yeah, I also know people who've been using it for decades. Come to think of it, I have!

Very cool pic Dylan, some nice colour to that horn

Hey, do you take your lunch-breaks in the Emerald Forest?!

Jack Black said:

Yeah, I also know people who've been using it for decades. Come to think of it, I have!

Very cool pic Dylan, some nice colour to that horn

Hey, do you take your lunch-breaks in the Emerald Forest?!

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Thanks, Jack!

As nice as that would be to dine in such a place, I am afraid it is nothing but my back yard. I do have a lovely maple and plum tree in the immediate vicinity, surrounded by some evergreens. The stone is one of a few chunks of Serpentine that I picked up on a hike some time ago. It really is a beautiful rock, lots of color and variance, with a bit of luster to it, even when dry.

gonebad395 said:

And r8shell that picture you posted the top knife I really like,I bet it's very comfortable to use. I'm going to look it up later. Also the patina you have going is great working on mine as I type cutting a apple.

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Jack Black said:

There's a whole Ettrick thread Keith - https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/what-is-the-definition-of-ettrick.1119303/ (posting the link because the new BF Seach function is so useless!)

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Thanks for finding the link, Jack. Enjoy reading, Keith. I just went and fixed a few picture links since, like many older threads, some pictures are missing.

Hmm...since I have an Ettrick and a Lambfoot, I'm thinking I need to find a Tackler for the Sheffield Trifecta.

Pàdruig said:

Not at all, GT! I use neatsfoot oil on all of my leather stuff, including regular application on my boots. The Guardians Slips received a couple of coats of the stuff before being shipped out. But being that it is vegetable tanned leather, with the drying effects that dyes have on it, it is certainly prudent to keep it well treated with oil. Regular use and the occasional oiling will keep that slip in good condition for a lifetime.

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Thanks for the reassurance, Dylan! My dad taught me to use neatsfoot oil on my first baseball glove, and we also used it on horse tack after we got a saddle horse for a while, and then eventually traded for a little pony with cart and leather harness. I occasionally have used it on leather boots, too, although back on the farm when I was a kid, we were more likely to treat our work boots with mutton tallow each year when winter arrived.

Jack Black said:

LOL! It wasn't quite a traditional English breakfast my friend You guessed right enough though, the potato cake thing was a rosti I'm not sure why they've started putting baked beans in pots here, I had another breakfast today where they did the same Great-looking pic there my friend, I can't wait to get my Guardians pocket-slip



Thanks for the tip Dylan, I've used neatsfoot oil in the past

Just throwing in a gratuitous Lambsfoot pic

View attachment 793807

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Your Guardian Lambsfoot gets plenty of photos with your "signature" watery backgrounds, Jack! Glad to hear you throw your support behind neatsfoot oil, too! And thanks for the breakfast info; makes me feel like quite a problem solver to have some of my hypotheses verified.

scrteened porch said:

Nice to hear other people are still using neat's-foot oil on leather. Some people claim it dissolves leather, though the can says it preserves leather. I've never found it to dissolve leather.

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scrteened porch said:

I think someone on the forums has said that, and when I told a non-member dealer that I was going to dip the sheath of my incoming knife in NFO, he said "hold thy desperate hand!", or words to that effect.
...

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Thanks for your neatsfoot oil support, Jer!

scrteened porch said:

Lambsfoot content. That black one I've been fooling with needs a little rounding, I see.

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Wow, Jer, I like that quartet of lambsfoot knives you've gathered!!

Pàdruig said:

That is so strange... Considering that neatsfoot oil is still sold in leather shops and is recommended for the conditioning and preservation of leather, I find it rather bizarre that someone would claim it dissolves leather...

Rest assured though, it does no such thing, I've been using it for many years on sheaths, holsters, belts, bags, boots, etc. It is readily available and effective!

(Lambsfoot content, I snapped a pic on lunch today)

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Knife on Fire!!

Jack Black said:

Yeah, I also know people who've been using it for decades. Come to think of it, I have!
...

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I think I first used it on a ball glove I got for Christmas in 1958, and last used it on Sunday!

Obligatory pic showing how deeply the coloration is imbedded in the horn:


- GT

Reporting for duty as summoned in the other thread Jack Black

It's so great how this thread has kept going, and going, and going, and going...

r8shell said:

Thanks for finding the link, Jack. Enjoy reading, Keith. I just went and fixed a few picture links since, like many older threads, some pictures are missing.

Hmm...since I have an Ettrick and a Lambfoot, I'm thinking I need to find a Tackler for the Sheffield Trifecta.

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Nice work r8shell LOL!

5K Qs said:

Your Guardian Lambsfoot gets plenty of photos with your "signature" watery backgrounds, Jack! Glad to hear you throw your support behind neatsfoot oil, too! And thanks for the breakfast info; makes me feel like quite a problem solver to have some of my hypotheses verified.

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We do have a lot of wet spots here my friend! I mainly used it on boots GT, but was seduced away by a gifted pot of a homemade mixture of beeswax and lanolin You could certainly be a detective my friend

5K Qs said:

I think I first used it on a ball glove I got for Christmas in 1958, and last used it on Sunday!

Obligatory pic showing how deeply the coloration is imbedded in the horn:

- GT

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That's pretty cool my friend Cool pic too, and a first from that angle I think

Crazy Canuck said:

Reporting for duty as summoned in the other thread Jack Black

It's so great how this thread has kept going, and going, and going, and going...

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Great to see you here Mike, I was only lamenting your absence the other day Good to see your Lambsfoot knives looking in sterling condition

Very interesting knife posted here: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/old-knives.527126/page-651#post-17588744

rockman0 said:

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I'm hoping the discussion moves over here

Jack Black said:

A really excellent post my friend, a pleasure to read I was also minded of discussions I've read on the reasons for the devastating cutting/shearing power of the Kukri - and the French guillotine!

Thanks my friend, just a lucky break really Wright's had got hold of a very small amount of Sambar, so I grabbed what I could! Here's the pile side of that one
View attachment 793622

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Thanks Jack, yeah the Kukri, and the guillotine are perfect examples of the cutting tool design principle I was trying to illustrate.

I think I spotted a smaller pile of what appears to be Sambar antler next to the big stack of strange shaped Pere David antlers in the pic you posted earlier of the A. Wright stag cellar.

5K Qs said:

Thanks for your kind words about my posts, knives, and knife names, Chin; I look forward to hearing what Norse name you've dreamed up! I certainly admire your ebony lambsfoot (is that the prodigal that returned?), and I'm a sucker for lambsfoot pics with actual lambs/sheep in the background!!

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5K Qs said:

Chin, I'm glad I could be of assistance in your developing perspectives on your Guardian Lambsfoot. I also enjoyed your ruminations on visual vs functional beauty, so to speak.

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Thanks GT, I'll have to try the name out in my head a bit first to see if it works. I find I think of my ebony Lambsfoot in my mind just as 'Mah Knife'. As in, reciting when getting dressed in the morning: 'Keys, wallet, phone, torch and mah knife'! No disrespect intended to any of my other knives, of course, but that's just how it is.

5K Qs said:

Very impressive Clamsfoot knife you have there, Chin!

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5K Qs said:

Absolutely fascinating post, Chin; helpful pics and intriguing speculations!

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LOL…and thanks, GT!

r8shell said:

Thank you for the illustrative pictures and ruminations re: canted blades. I was inspired to examine and photograph a comparison of my new guardian lambfoot with an Ettrick I received from @WhittlinAway last spring. If I'm being honest, I think the Ettrick would be more aesthetically pleasing if it were not canted, with the graceful s-curve this pattern is known for. Yet, in use both blades are very effective and the Ettrick is especially well suited to draw cuts. (whittlinaway did an excellent job thinning out the primary grind, and this is my favorite knife for craft projects involving cutting leather. Much easier on the wrist and so much classier than an x-acto)
View attachment 793841

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Cheers, r8shell - I'm always interested to hear your thoughts on traditional patterns given you use them for craft work as well as the more usual EDC chores. I carried the Ettrick for a bit, it's a very cool knife to whip out to use, when EDCing it, but I'm convinced one of the ways it may also be designed to use is in a kind of reverse grip, with the edge facing the user. It used to be reasonably common, I remember when I was a kid, to see adults peeling and slicing up their lunchtime apples using this hold.

scrteened porch said:

I think someone on the forums has said that, and when I told a non-member dealer that I was going to dip the sheath of my incoming knife in NFO, he said "hold thy desperate hand!", or words to that effect.

[Edited to make my reference more obscure, in case I'm maligning the guy. It is a long time since I bought that knife.]

Lambsfoot content. That black one I've been fooling with needs a little rounding, I see.

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Yep, I agree, that truncated TEW at bottom, could use a little bit more of a nose job, Jer.

Great looking quartet, though.

gonebad395 said:

I've never used neats foot oil but I did post earlier that the coconut oil worked great on the leather softened it right up and smells good too. And r8shell that picture you posted the top knife I really like,I bet it's very comfortable to use. I'm going to look it up later. Also the patina you have going is great working on mine as I type cutting a apple.

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Thanks, Keith, I got some coconut oil. I was also interested to see when reading up on it, that like Jojoba oil, it doesn't go rancid over time. Smells nice too, as you say, and seems to be good for the skin as well.

Pàdruig said:

That is so strange... Considering that neatsfoot oil is still sold in leather shops and is recommended for the conditioning and preservation of leather, I find it rather bizarre that someone would claim it dissolves leather...

Rest assured though, it does no such thing, I've been using it for many years on sheaths, holsters, belts, bags, boots, etc. It is readily available and effective!

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Great pic, as always, Dylan. I wonder if that comment about neatsfoot oil, was about the stuff adulterated with mineral oil. I use an old, well established Australian product called Dubbin, which works well, although it darkens the leather a bit, like neatsfoot oil.

Nice piece of serpentinite as well. I have a few pieces I picked up too from a very isolated old Chromite mine up in the Victorian High Country I hunt in, which was prospected between the world wars from memory, but never developed further, as it would have been a major operation to get anything in or out of the area.

Crazy Canuck said:

Reporting for duty as summoned in the other thread Jack Black

It's so great how this thread has kept going, and going, and going, and going...

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Good to see you back. Hmmm, but no blade patina? What's the story?

Jack Black said:

Very interesting knife posted here: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/old-knives.527126/page-651#post-17588744

I'm hoping the discussion moves over here

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Wow, that knife is a really lucky find, never seen that blade configuration before. Presses all the buttons for me, come to think of it!
Definitely looking forward to seeing more of that one over here @rockman0.

5K Qs said:

Wow, Jer, I like that quartet of lambsfoot knives you've gathered!!

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Thanks. I like the extra sway on the reddish wooden one Jack sent me (no name on it, but whoever it was got it right). I consider that one less of a beater than the 2-blade Wright I was forced to transmogrify.

Cambertree said:

Thanks Jack, yeah the Kukri, and the guillotine are perfect examples of the cutting tool design principle I was trying to illustrate.

I think I spotted a smaller pile of what appears to be Sambar antler next to the big stack of strange shaped Pere David antlers in the pic you posted earlier of the A. Wright stag cellar.

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Well spotted my friend, does this pic make it any clearer (unfortunately, it was a dimly-lit cellar)?



Couple of other pics I took at the same time

Cambertree said:

Thanks GT, I'll have to try the name out in my head a bit first to see if it works. I find I think of my ebony Lambsfoot in my mind just as 'Mah Knife'. As in, reciting when getting dressed in the morning: 'Keys, wallet, phone, torch and mah knife'! No disrespect intended to any of my other knives, of course, but that's just how it is.

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I reckon it's OK to have favourites...just don't tell the other knives!

Cambertree said:

Wow, that knife is a really lucky find, never seen that blade configuration before. Presses all the buttons for me, come to think of it!
Definitely looking forward to seeing more of that one over here @rockman0.

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I thought you'd find it interesting my friend Cool pic of yuh knife!

scrteened porch said:

Thanks. I like the extra sway on the reddish wooden one Jack sent me (no name on it, but whoever it was got it right). I consider that one less of a beater than the 2-blade Wright I was forced to transmogrify.

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I haven't seen those on sale anywhere for a while, but everyone I ever gifted one to said they were really pleased with it



I am going to have to get round to buying another rosewood Lambsfoot sometime. I sent this one to Charlie C when I was a newish poster here

My Guardians Lambsfoot has just helped me open an incredible (and extremely well-wrapped) package of vintage treasures from my good friend @herder