I really liked the looks of quite a few of the James brand knives, but when I looked into things further, I discovered
what a few have mentioned here; They don't make the knives, they outsource the production, they don't seem to know a whole
heck of a lot about them.
The James brand really does seem to be just a brand that groups products according to certain lifestyle parameters.
More of a " buy this, buy that, to be cool like us" sort of deal rather than a solid "we make this, here's why, here's our guarantee"
+1 for the GEC sheepsfoot
here's another suggestion:
not wooden handled, but that natural canvas micarta looks damn good anyway
not exactly a sheepsfoot, but this is in that same vein