Rarest CRK You Own

nickpp, Thank you for taking the time to measure your ulu... Do you know what kind of metal was used? What are the scales made of?
 
nickpp, Thank you for taking the time to measure your ulu... Do you know what kind of metal was used? What are the scales made of?

Your welcome. Always happy when early CRKs is the subject;)

The scales are Girrafe bone.
The steel is unknown but my best guess would be 154CM.
When Chris turned professional maker he used 440A and 440B and then moved to 154CM followed by ATS34. ( This is me looking at info supplied by CRKs relating to knives I have, rather than an specific timeline. I can also imagine some horses for courses and natural trialling and testing as he went along. R&D if you like)
The very early birth certificates didn't have steel type specified. Not that I have one for this knife.

I have very little info about this knife. At some point I'll send an email to Anne and see if they have any thoughts or memories. It probably needs Chris to answer it though.
 
Nick, that is a very rare find... how on earth did you come across that ulu ?... trade secrete? LOL
I spend a fair amount of time in Alaska living among Alaskan Natives in remote areas so I have a lot of interest in the ulu
 
Nick, that is a very rare find... how on earth did you come across that ulu ?... trade secrete? LOL
I spend a fair amount of time in Alaska living among Alaskan Natives in remote areas so I have a lot of interest in the ulu

Yep, I got very lucky.....
It was all through a guy who posted on a now unfortunately deduct SABlade forum. It was a quiet but really cool site and I learnt a tremendous amount. He posted some pictures and a few months later I sent him a message basically saying I loved the knives and whilst I didn't want to hassle the owner if ever he decided to sell would he bear me in mind. Basically get my name on radar.....
Long and the short the owner emailed me I met him at his daughters house in London and I agreed to buy everything he offered me. 2 Garter knives, proably my rarest Chris Reeve item a cutlery set, a pair of steak knives as he described them and the Ulu.
He'd been a friend of Chris as well as having business dealings. Fascinating stories of what they used to get up to with Chris's bike racing, camping trips and his own previous life (including his military service). I regularly regret not asking to record the chat as I've forgotten so much. Some of the time I was trying to stay cool and work out how the hell you value a collection like he was offering me, part of which was still back in SA and I was only going on a verbal description.
I've tried to contact him again since but never with any success:(
The guy did say it was the only surving Ulu due to heat treatment issues with the other blades. Whether that's true I have no idea.
 
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