I suspect you and Jack have obtained your A.Wright knives from the same source Dylan. Personally, I'd look elsewhere. There are a lot of flaws with those knives, but while I prefer black ebony, I think that looks good too. I do think that the seller should describe the scales properly though. The rust spots alone wouldn't bother me too much, but they indicate carelessness on the part of the seller, and possibly a knife that has been in storage for a while. I don't find the polished blades rust easily. If you decide to keep the buffalo, I hope you can smooth off the rough edges, because the horn looks quite nice I think
I believe it was, he's done various runs with historic wood. Situated in the south of England I think (not Sheffield).
Hope you had a great cruise Greg, it's good to have you back
I had a sneaky snapper with me on my hike yesterday! Think I'm just fluffing up some tinder to make a brew in the top pic, and taking a pic of the same ebony Lambsfoot in the bottom one, something which it seems never ceases to amuse my walking companions!
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Here's the pic!
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I'm very happy with all my Wright's knives too. I've had GEC knives with more serious flaws
I've admired them for a long time, but buying one was a bit of an extravagance. They're rather bulky for backpacking, but versatile in lots of situations. Plenty of YouTube videos
LOL!
My Unity Lambsfoot out on a limb
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Ya'll know what I like even better than discussing and eyeing Lambsfoot knives? Using one!
I've spent the past 10 days without a knife in my pocket because we were on a cruise to Alaska that didn't allow sharp objects on board. Beautiful scenery, for sure, but it was nice to slip this one in my pocket when I returned and put it on citrus duty.
When I had internet it was nice to check in and see all the activity here.
Been trying to photo the bent blade aspect of my Lambfoot knives, it's proved very difficult.
I think they must've been bent/warped during heat-treat and it's amazing they can centre them in the frame, but they do look odd when open... The Large Horn handled knife has a wavy blade in fact and a load of gaps.
I showed them in group with similar sized knives from GEC and a Portuguese manufacture. Naturally, the GEC is far better finished and costs more, the Portuguese horn handled knife was if anything, cheaper and has very good straight blade and very acceptable finish all round. I like the Lambfoot as an authentic and genuine English pattern, unique in its way, but I do wish Wright had the money to invest in newer tooling to up the quality. Inexpensive French, Spanish & Portuguese knives show that it is possible to make inexpensive knives with consistent QC in Europe.
I take it that would be difficult to sharpen to. That's a shame, I own three Wright & Son knives and there all good quality knives. The covers on my Ettrick are mismatched in terms of thickness but the blades are solid.
From my wonders last week.
What did they have in the dining room, sporks?
It very well might scratch the horn, or simply dull it. However, horn can be polished back up, I think. I think I am resolved to keeping the knife and perhaps making it into a bit of a project. The most daunting task I think is going to be working all of the brass down to where it isn't catching my skin all the time. Going to have to give my project some careful thought before I start it...
I am not so sure we acquired the knives from the same place. The vendor I used only had their very basic models available with none of the exotic covers that Jack is sporting on his new knives. However, I will most certainly heed your advice and not use them again. Though this ebony example I have is certainly a good knife, it isn't ebony in the sense that I was hoping for so I will still be looking to acquire another one at some point.
In the meantime, I am very happy to include Linus in my collection. Yes, I dubbed this knife Linus. Rosie has a name, why shouldn't this one? I named it Linus after the character in the Peanuts comic strip. If you are familiar with that strip, you might know that Linus, who at first sight doesn't look like much, often being seen with his blanket or even sucking his thumb, is actually a very intelligent and wise young man. Which goes to show that looks are not everything and given my initial disappointment with the covers on this knife, I think it a very fitting name indeed.
I have to say, Jack, your pictures are killing it lately. That beautiful horn posing next to the heather is quite the picture.
I am also so very pleased to see you engaging in some forms of bushcraft, yet another one of my own passions.
I hope you had a great cruise, though I am a bit perturbed for you that the ship doesn't even allow pocket knives?! Glad you made it back safe and could immediately remedy being bereft of your sharps.
I agree, more action shots would be most welcome. I will do what I can to help contribute to the cause!
I wholeheartedly agree on all of your points, Chin. Hence why I have decided not to return the knives. Both of them are quite usable and with a little elbow grease, they both will make fantastic users. The ebony covered one really does not require a whole lot other than a good stropping and some oil. The horn knife is the one that will require a fair amount of work but I am up to the task and hope I can facilitate a reasonable transformation.
That blade warp hurts the eyes... I do not even think I could use that knife without being offended in some way.
Fantastic picture, Donn!
I took a few more closeups of Linus. Hopefully I was able to capture the depth of character this guy has. Both the mark and pile side.
Not that you should have to do that I miss being able to get out as often as I used to 
)
I'm sure one of our cutlers could give you some advice Dylan. With the right equipment you should be able to smooth those rough edges and polish the horn at the same time
Sounds like a different vendor from Jack. I have had a number of disappointing experiences with UK dealers, and now only use one in Sheffield, or go to the factory myself
Thanks for the kind words my friend, I struggle a bit in the woods these days, due to ailments and old age, but I have been doing it all my life
80's:
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(I don't have any pics from the 60's and 70's
Great pics of Linus Dylan
I've been working out in the garden most of the day. Picked some blackberries to reward me and my Unity Lambsfoot
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LOL, thanks my friend!
That region of Spain sounds great. My friends in the north of Ireland spoke very highly of the hospitality of the Basque folk along the Western Pyrenees of Spain and France, as well.
Yes, I would guess the export ban might have something to do with Sambar deer having been declared 'Vulnerable' in their home ranges in India and Sri Lanka in 2008.
The Australian herds, mostly in Victoria were the results of releases by British 'Acclimatization Societies' from the 1860s onwards. All the early releases were in bushland within an hours drive, or less of where I live. The Game Management Authority estimates the current Sambar deer population just in this State, at 750,000-1,000,000.
The problem regarding utilising some of these Sambar deer antlers as a renewable resource for knife handles is twofold.
Firstly, Sambar are rarely commercially farmed - they are notoriously flighty in captivity. I know of a couple of deer farms that have some, as a kind of game ranch business, but observing the deer even in that situation as a visitor (being fed at the same time each day etc.), they never seem to lose their legendary wariness, and masterful stealth and evasiveness. One of the farms, I recall, did sell their Sambar antler cast offs. I read a story from an Indian paper just the other day, about wildlife officers being investigated for foolishly trying to rope a wild Sambar stag running loose in a school precinct - the stag was a mighty animal, but it still died from the shock of being 'wrangled' by them.
Venison farms and 'behind the wire' operations usually prefer to raise Fallow deer and Red deer.
Then, with regard to hunted wild Sambar antler - many deer hunters may have a special piece reserved for their own custom knife, but apart from that, generally like to keep their antlers intact.
Among hunters, it's no small thing to be given Sambar antlers by another hunter. Other deer species' antlers are not necessarily seen in this way.
Great post JP.
'Crying' is a perceptive way of putting it.
Reminded me in Japan, I was curious to see what an elderly master bladesmith would say about an intricate, tightly patterned, damascus bladed/timascus handled modern folder I showed him a photo of.
'Aieeee', he sucked air in through his teeth, and muttered 'Oh that hurts my eyes' in Japanese!
LOL. Yes, I agree R8shell, that hunted Sambar is not really a sustainable way of sourcing antler. I assume in India, where cast antlers were 'harvested', they must have had forested farms, enclosed by high deer-proof fences, so they would be assured of being able to find the cast off antlers from the confined deer each year.
I don't mind a bit of forward blade cant either, although there's a level I guess, where it starts to look barbarous, or sloppy. I generally prefer to judge knives based on hand feedback, rather than by eye, in deciding whether a pattern works well, or not, anyway.
'Fallow' in this case, SP, comes from this deer species' preferred habitat of transitional, or 'fallow' ground where improved pasture fringes meet light timber and forest.
Thanks, my friend.
Yes, all good advice, my friend.
I don't know if I've ever returned a knife (except a couple of times for warranty repair). Hardly worth it from Australia, so I just make 'em work, or give 'em away. Remember, at a local UK retailer, these knives go for around $35-45USD, so that has a strong bearing on the amount of finishing work done. In fact, this really makes them cousins of the sodbuster/mineur knife in a way, in terms of price point. When I was looking over probably two dozen or more A. Wright knives in the Famous Sheffield Shop to choose mine, they all had 'flaws' of some kind. But clearly, many of them are able to serve their intended purposes well, and I usually work over my knives a bit, before use anyway, so it doesn't bother me that much on some. Others I've had a series of frustrations with, but have worked through them in the end, and also learned more about knives because of it.
Nice work, Jack - the cant on that JR looks well within the 'margin of acceptability' - to me, anyway. Thanks for taking the time to put that post together too.
Those knives you're concerned about just look like they started as a standard Wright stamped Lambsfoot blank, and have simply been ground down in the 'nose' area a bit more. It's hard to see in the photos, but given the minimal evidence of a swedge, the regrinding may have happened to the blade after it left the Wright factory. Or it could just be that there's a bit of latitude in style depending on which cutler, or apprentice made it. They look fine to me, honestly. I've done the same with my Ox horn Lambsfoot. The modern Taylors Eye Witness Lambsfoot offering sports a similar blade profile.
Interesting to read your sequence of posts Dylan. I've been through a similar progression of emotions regarding some of my Wright Lambsfoot knives. I've certainly spent more time on getting them the way I like them - with sandpaper, stone and strop - than on most of my other pocketknives, but somehow, I also like them more as users than many other of my knives as well.
That old world charm you mentioned, is a factor for me, as well as those ergonomic and practical aspects. I very much enjoy the feeling - when using traditional English knife patterns like this, and other old English tools - of being connected to the history and toolmaking culture of one of the great metalworking centres of the world.
Great action shots Jack! Do you ever use birch bark as tinder, or for scraped punk? I recall seeing small stands of it in Ireland and England. One of my regular walks intentionally winds through a mixed stand of Canoe birch, next to a few acres of Japanese Monarch birch. I always keep some dried birch rolls in my 'possibles bag'. Burns fantastic.
Greg: that sounds like a great trip, you must have seen some amazing coastline.
Hmm, action shots you say?
I suppose this is some lite action:
trimming down chilli stalks...
Those pictures very plainly show that their processes are not , and probably never were , in control . This is usually a sign that management does not care to properly train people to do a job correctly and does not explain the standards of acceptance . Kind of makes me sad to see that . Been through it thousands of times in a previous life .
Such great pictures Jack, thanks.
These trigger memories of my own past hiking and camping excursions, and I'm also hungry for some reason.
Padruig if the brass pins are proud on that horn handled knife, I'd suggest using a leather strop with green compound. It polishes the pins down and buffs the horn at the same time, no scratches just an improvement all round. Horn is very fussy about dry air, this can cause shrink and the pins may be left standing as it were. Or, it could be they weren't driven in correctly for fear of flaking or splitting the horn....
As always my friend, a hugely enjoyable and informative post, a treat to read with my coffee and sausage sandwich
I do sometimes use birch bark Chin
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One from the other day
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I'm sure one of our cutlers could give you some advice Dylan. With the right equipment you should be able to smooth those rough edges and polish the horn at the same time
Sounds like a different vendor from Jack. I have had a number of disappointing experiences with UK dealers, and now only use one in Sheffield, or go to the factory myself
Thanks for the kind words my friend, I struggle a bit in the woods these days, due to ailments and old age, but I have been doing it all my life
80's:
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90's:
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(I don't have any pics from the 60's and 70's
Great pics of Linus Dylan
I've been working out in the garden most of the day. Picked some blackberries to reward me and my Unity Lambsfoot
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I'll find out the name of that bar my friend
Probably not quite as much as when I got it all for free, and got a couple of postal deliveries a day, but now I compensate for my waning abilities with better kit! The Kelly Kettle is good, but I'm not sure it boils water significantly better than the soot-blackened camping kettle my granny gave me when I was about seven, and which accompanied me on many a childhood adventure (and a few adult ones too ). Yes, give it a go, it's cheap, easy to carry, and it makes a great 'nest' 
I lost all my original photos from that time, and before, years ago unfortunately. I only have a few of the printed ones That's actually one of the first locking Vic SAKs, the Hunter I think, with the gutting hook (which I recommended they use as the basis for an Emergency Release Knife). That's a limpet I'm prying off. I was doing a series on living on the seashore 
Oh, tell them we all say hello!By coincidence, I will be calling in at the A.Wright factory tomorrow
