Oh boy, I just received the new Shepherd Hills Christmas catalog! There are some really beautiful knives in there. I’m not talking about the great array of mammoth ivory or pearl or exotic handle materials – there are some new designs and new treatments. The first thing to catch my eye was the five blade trappers. Five blades on a trapper is a little much, but these were full size and they had the Cigar Band type of shield. If I were to design a knife, it would have a Cigar Band shield of some type. Then came the four blade muskrat, in stag yet! I caught myself thinking “It is only $100!”
Turn a few pages, and there was the vintage stag set. Great pocket worn stag and dark blades with white etched artwork. The seahorse whittler, humpback stockman and trapperlock caught my eye right away. These were a little more than $100 apiece but who cares? A few more pages and then bang! A tang stamp collection, thirty five knives with special tang stamps representing all the stamps used since 1905. Only $3500! That’s only $100 per knife! I must have been delirious for a minute, I actually considered raising that kind of money. The best was near the end, the stag Damascus knives! Great steel, handsome handles and some new patterns make these hard to resist.
The end of the catalog, and I must return to earth. I might consider one $100 knife seriously, but there were at least six that were calling to me. Dang it, I just received the new Shepherd Hills Christmas catalog!