Charlie Bell knives

This little gent shot me over the moon. Only had one piece of this beautiful bark, limiting knife size. Charlie and I have discussed slipjoint design over coffee while CEing and CFing my collection. He is a quick study and making some extra fine slipjoints. Note the seamless transition from the bolster to the tang, comfortable in hand with excellent control of the blade. Blade extends into the handle as far as possible to make the blade as long as possible. D2 :) Pins invisible even under the extreme scrutiny of my macro lens. Flush in all three positions, perfectly centered, solid lockup, fit and finish is as fine as it looks.

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This little gent shot me over the moon. Only had one piece of this beautiful bark, limiting knife size. Charlie and I have discussed slipjoint design over coffee while CEing and CFing my collection. He is a quick study and making some extra fine slipjoints. Note the seamless transition from the bolster to the tang, comfortable in hand with excellent control of the blade. Blade extends into the handle as far as possible to make the blade as long as possible. D2 :) Pins invisible even under the extreme scrutiny of my macro lens. Flush in all three positions, perfectly centered, solid lockup, fit and finish is as fine as it looks.

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That's a fine looking little knife, John. What's the closed length? 3" or so?
 
Peregrin Peregrin Good eye Gary, 3" exactly. T The Shatz Thanks Warren, SS Rolex sports watches are apparently hard to get right now, people are flipping them like TC barlows! ;) My first really nice watch was a no date ceramic sub, traded it in for a two tone and missed it ever since. This may sound odd but it feels good, familiar, to be wearing one again. Classy but not flashy, no date symmetrical style.
 
- thank you for sharing, John..........very nice work indeed :thumbsup::cool::thumbsup:
 
This little gent shot me over the moon. Only had one piece of this beautiful bark, limiting knife size. Charlie and I have discussed slipjoint design over coffee while CEing and CFing my collection. He is a quick study and making some extra fine slipjoints. Note the seamless transition from the bolster to the tang, comfortable in hand with excellent control of the blade. Blade extends into the handle as far as possible to make the blade as long as possible. D2 :) Pins invisible even under the extreme scrutiny of my macro lens. Flush in all three positions, perfectly centered, solid lockup, fit and finish is as fine as it looks.

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Atemporal :eek:
 
Gevonovich Gevonovich thanks, indeed.

J JustinR I got to handle that swayback before it left Charlie's shop and am happy to hear your thoughts are like mine, it's a sweet knife! Beautiful sound / feel at halfstop, full open and closing. I may be mistaken but think the bone on it and on my single blade wt are the same. Beautiful color and texture.

@abcdef here's another pic for your collection. Jingle Bells! Jingle Bells! Jingle all the way … :)

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Gevonovich Gevonovich thanks, indeed.

J JustinR I got to handle that swayback before it left Charlie's shop and am happy to hear your thoughts are like mine, it's a sweet knife! Beautiful sound / feel at halfstop, full open and closing. I may be mistaken but think the bone on it and on my single blade wt are the same. Beautiful color and texture.

@abcdef here's another pic for your collection. Jingle Bells! Jingle Bells! Jingle all the way … :)

bellcollection-1.jpg
Chief/John
I love single blade folders. You collection of Mr Bell’s knives is excellent. Congratulations.
 
Peregrin Peregrin Good eye Gary, 3" exactly. T The Shatz Thanks Warren, SS Rolex sports watches are apparently hard to get right now, people are flipping them like TC barlows! ;) My first really nice watch was a no date ceramic sub, traded it in for a two tone and missed it ever since. This may sound odd but it feels good, familiar, to be wearing one again. Classy but not flashy, no date symmetrical style.

My wife took my 35 year old GMT Master 16750 Pepsi dial in for service Saturday. The watchmaker tried his best to buy it. Offered way over what I thought it was worth. What’s wrong with these folks?

Charlie builds a nice knife John, very nice indeed :)
 
Yesterday was fortunate to spend most of the day with Charlie Bell. Got to watch him use his Bridgeport, lathe, and other equipment while working on a rag micarta muskrat. The precision he works with is amazing … a ten thousandth improvement here and there add up. Terms like flat and round have a new meaning. Now I know what it takes to make a precision slipjoint, my drill press and Dremel aren't going to hack it. Hope you enjoy a tour of Charlie's shop.

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Thanks for the shop photos, fascinating to see the amount of equipment that goes into the production of his knives.
 
Awesome shop pics.

I'm looking forward to another Charlie Bell knife. I carry my Swayback daily in my shirt pocket. If love to see his take on a shadow slimline trapper in stag.
 
Time to give this thread a well deserved bump.

This Zulu arrived today directly from Charlie and I could not be more pleased. It exceeds my expectations on so many levels. It handles like a dream too and feels perfect in my hand.

Jigged Black Paper Micarta.
Orange G10 spacers.
CPM-154 blade and spring.
3 9/16 inches closed.
Pinchable blade with a pull of about a 6.

Something tells me this won't be my last knife from Charlie.

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Railsplitter Railsplitter Beautiful knife Rick! Orange / black is a great combo, diamond shield looks great, perfectly placed. Love the way Charlie gets as much blade as possible to fit on your knife. Glad to hear your impressions match mine, Charlie is making great slipjoints at the current time.
 
That jigged micarta looks really cool. Hoping to get another of Charlies knives soon.

Thinking about a shadow trapper in that amber carved stag bone.
 
Got to be the fastest time between order and delivery for a custom knife. Tony Bose pattern single blade trapper. CPM154 steel.

The walk and talk is excellent, very sharp and the blade to spring transition is the best I have seen. After some thought I went back to the amber carved stag bone for a matched pair.

Already thinking about the next one.

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The beauty of a custom is the ability to work with a maker who is willing to use cover material that has meaning to the end user. My dad bought a large piece of kiln dried purple heart 35 years ago from the base wood hobby shop. He passed away shortly thereafter and never got to use it. I carried it around since his passing. The abalone shield came from a shell my wife and I picked up off the beach at Vandenberg AFB 20 years ago. Charlie Bell cut some slices off the purple heart, had them stabilized so they will stay purple, and cut the double bomb shield out of the shell I provided. It's been overcast and raining the last few days so I can't get really good shots without some sun. Another feature of this knife is G10 purple liners, making it about half the weight of comparable sized slipjoints with steel liners. Will take more pics showing the liners when the weather clears up. Bose WT pattern with single wharncliffe 154 CM thin ground blade, pinchable, sweet walk and talk, is the perfect EDC for me. Thanks Charlie for making me this wonderful slipjoint.

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