Anyone heard of Glen Avaritt?

[Ken Cook]

We had a guy come into the gunshop today with a huge bag of custom knives wanting to do some "horse trading."

There were some really gorgeous pieces in there, according to the owner, all were either D2 or L6.

The Boss did some trading, and when it was over, actually gave me one of the knives. (I helped out on the horse tradin.) A very sweet stag and bone handled dagger made from 3/8th D2 stock, hollow ground, blade 7.5 inches long, 7/8ths wide at the base with a very nice not-quite-mirror polish and very straight grind lines. It has a very nice polished brass hilt, silver soldered to the blade.(The only obvious imperfection is a slight mis-match on the ricasso grinds.)

The embarassing part is that the maker, this "Glen Avaritt" is from right here in Hot Springs Arkansas (I live in Royal, but work and shop in Hot Springs) and I seem to be the only guy around here that's never heard of him!

The guy selling the knives said that the maker "...sells most of his stuff over the Internet." but I don't know if that means ebay, or if he has a website.

Anyone with any information, I'd appreciate all the help you could give me.

 

[Ken Cook]

C'mon, somebody has to have heard of this guy!
I can't believe a maker that does such great work is totally unknown here on BFC.

Btw, edited above post to reflect correct spelling of his name.
Glen Avaritt

Anyone?

 

[Bastid]

I came up empty Ken.

 

[Ken Cook]

Dang.
Thanks for trying <b>B</b>!

I guess I'll just have to hunt this guy down and introduce his work to BFC myself.
Of what I saw, (just one guy's collection) his work is pretty impressive!

I'll update if I find out any "good stuff."

 

[Keith Montgomery]

Ken, that would be great. I have never heard of this maker and can find out absolutely nothing about him. If he is selling his knives on the internet, he is not doing it under his name. He does not show up in any search engine that I tried. Maybe he goes by a shop name.

 

[Ken Cook]

I struck gold at the gunshop today!

Early this morning, one of our regulars came in, a Suud Afrikanner gentleman who organizes safaris for a living saw a couple of the knives in the display case and commented "Oh, I see you've got a couple of Glen's knives for sale!"

(Everyone in the county except me knows about this guy!)


It turns out, that this fellow is the one who brings back all of Mr. Avaritt's exotic handle material from Africa.

We talked for a bit, and he promised to come back later in the day with some examples. Among those he brought back later was an "Art knife" with an 8 inch Warthog tusk for a grip, and two smaller ones mounted as "quillions." Truly an impressive piece!

Later in the day, two younger guys came in (early 20s) and said "Oh! You've got a couple of Uncle Glen's knives!"

(Did they all get together and decide not to tell me?)

Turns out that both of these kids sometimes work in their uncle's shop and help cut blanks, polish blades, etc.

According to them, Mr. Avaritt learned his trade from AG Russel himself. I was thinking about contacting AG, but then they handed me one of Mr. Avaritt's cards.
I'm totally commited all weekend, but I fully intend to call and try to meet this gentleman.

I'll let you know as I find out more.

(I love a good mystery!)