Badlands Blades "Salamander" by "knifemaker"

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ILikeStilettos
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Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2014 3:36 pm
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Badlands Blades "Salamander" by "knifemaker"

Post by ILikeStilettos »

I met Duke through another forum and we've sort of gravitated toward each other. He told me that he has been building fixed blades knives for almost 20 years and has enough of a reputation that his knives go for several hundred dollars. He's also been experimenting with making his own Damascus steel and is very interested in switchblades, particularly the making of. Some of you will recognize the "Badlands Blades" etch on this knife, but he also uses "Duke". My guess is that within the next year you will all know him because of his builds and mangles of switchblades. He is a fine gentleman and a dear friend to me already. I sent him a chunk of Matt Manning's stabilized box elder burl, and under duress from his wife, he made me a knife using it for scales. The knife is 440C and a little over 7-1/4" long by 5/8" wide and weighs a svelte 4 oz. Duke has three speeds: average, sharp and scary sharp. This one is sharp and shaves hair from my arm quite easily.

It's a real honey of a knife, providing a "choil" resting spot for your index finger and with filework to give your thumb a nice secure place to rest. It's a small knife, but the grip is superb and very secure, even without a traditional guard.

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This double-dyed block of burl was mostly red with just a patch of blue. Since I'm right handed, I'm calling this the "front" side. Duke may be left handed, because he put the prettier scale on the back and that's where he marked it.

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Ya gotta love Matt's stabilized woods. You can stare at them for hours and watch little faces and shapes emerge.

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Duke opted for black spacers because he thought the red would be too close to the scales. I really like his filework and the contrast with the black shows it off to its best advantage.

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This is the "business side" - clean and simple.

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Duke and I have very similar tastes and he's already secured one cool automatic.

http://www.sharperdeal.biz/forums/viewt ... 38&t=10563

So this is my big public thank you. Thank you ever so much, Mr. Charlesworth, SIR!

Seriously, Duke is a great guy and you should all feel free to reach out to him, if only to chat about knives.

I hope you all like the post and the knife. I know I surely do.

PS Duke and his fellows were trying to decide what to call this color, which wasn't red and it wasn't pink. One of the ladies said it was "salamander". So, that's what we are calling it, The Salamander.
Dave Sause
oldandfat@cox.net
(405) 694-3690

"And you're telling me this because, somehow, I look like I give a shit?"

"Let a smile be your umbrella and you're gonna get your dumb ass wet."
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Viking45
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Joined: Tue Feb 03, 2009 3:07 am

Re: Badlands Blades "Salamander" by "knifemaker"

Post by Viking45 »

That's a real beauty and a very practical size and blade grind. Love the pins and what he did on the file work and spacers,nice detail.
Down inside I think I am more of a fixed blade guy than anything else and one thing I have noticed in the last decade and a half is more and more of the smaller fixed blades.
Looking at Swedish,Finnish and many of the European knives you will see they have always preferred smaller,more practical fixed blades.
Much of this is due to people wanting to keep weight to a minimum when camping,hiking and hunting.

Not many "hog legs" of days past. I think people that spend a lot of time outdoors want/need a good knife but no longer rely on a huge knife for the chopping,splitting and hacking,they have hatchets and machetes for that.

When I first saw the color on this knife watermelon came to mind but Salamander sounds much cooler 8)
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john
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Location: New England, MA USA

Re: Badlands Blades "Salamander" by "knifemaker"

Post by john »

Hi Dave,

Very nice!!! Duke did a great job! I like the flip side with all that red.

John
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John

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