Jeff White knives?

[superscifi12]

Does anyone have one his knives? I like how they look but not sure about then as they are not mentioned very often.

mike

[Dogshirt]

I see them on eBay fairly often, and the prices don't seem too bad. But other than that I know nothing about the quality.

[BruceB]

I have one of his knifes.

[mongrel]

Quality in my opinion is superb, but they're mainly good, practical using knives -- someone else's standard of quality might be about their artistic value. Knives to me aren't art, they're tools, and Jeff's are great. His booth is about half a dozen down from mine on the same row, at Friendship. My next-door neighbor, there, has a deal to carry Jeff's smaller trade knives, which I routinely lust over but really have no need for, so I've had plenty of opportunity to check out Jeff's work.

He makes a big, nasty chopping thing of modified bolo pattern that one of these days when I have the cash to dispose of I'm going to order with a slightly over-length blade -- standard is roughly 10" to a foot, I want something three or four inches longer with the same mass. I occasionally clear brush that includes small trees and one of these things will save me having to tote either a chain saw or an axe.

[Watauga]

I have one of his Throwing Knifes and it serves me very well.
I think his knife's are more PC than they are given credit for. people used up the working Knifes.
Its the look pretty's that are left to history.
I recall the wife's grand father had a old Green River Butcher knife that had been resharpened so many times the the blade was 3/4 gone and he said it was his favorite.

[mongrel]

Not to go (too much) off on a tangent -- but "PC" in knives strikes me as being an exercise in futility, unless it's defined as the knife being a precise copy of a documented original, with anything of the same basic pattern but some difference in detail (handle material, blade thickness, etc) not making the cut, pun intended. Especially with the hand-forged and hand-ground pieces, there are going to be differences in precise details. Jeff's knives are, like I said, for the most part just good, basic tools, with blade shapes and weight suited to the tasks the particular knife is intended for, and local woods used for the handles. As such I would imagine that there were very similar knives by the thousands, back in the day, because the most useful designs for various tasks were worked out thousands of years ago and at their heart most knives for a specific use are going to be very similar to one another -- superficial details like handle material, and of course the quality of workmanship, being what makes one distinctive from another.

Case in point -- the Bowie knife, which is considered by most folks a uniquely American, 19th century creation. Mmm, well -- the Scots and northern English had a clipped-point chopping and killing knife called a sax, which had been introduced into their culture by Norsemen who instead of raiding chose to trade and settle in that region. That takes us back a thousand years, but the Norse had adapted the knife from the Saxons ("people of the sax" or "people of the knife" in ancient Germanic dialects), who all the way back to their origins around the time of Christ had preferred a long knife as their primary fighting blade. The surviving examples of these early Dark Ages knives are about dead-ringers in profile to what were called Natchez Bowies, with a slightly convex spine and no clip that gave the blade a slightly leaf-shaped appearance. Of course the handle material and steel/iron composition would be totally different, but essentially all Bowie (or James Black or whoever) did was make use of a design that, as a fighting and utility tool, had been perfected by a bunch of grubby Germans back when Rome still ruled the known world.

Point being (pun again intended) that about any plain knife of practical, simple design is more than likely 100% PC or close enough it doesn't matter.

[Red Badger]

let me start by saying I am not a knife man, but I tend to agree with Mike on this one - I have seen bronze blades with a striking resemblance to machete's and stone knives which look like a well used butcher knife... The basic tool remains the same, but the material is new and improved until as in the case of some scalpels goes back to the original material...(there are medical scalpels out there that use an obsidian edged blade)

[De_LaLonde]

I've had a couple of his knives, a smaller trade knife, and the longhunter.  They are good knives.  But I would also suggest looking at Dean Oliver's knives.  His knives have a canoe mark on them and are sold through many dealers like TotW, Ragweed Forge, and CrazyCrow among others.  I have the one listed as the Hudson Bay trade knife on TotW's site.  They are a bit thicker and nicer finished. 

[bassfan586]

I have one of Jeff's Skinner knives.   Prefect length and hair popping sharp.  Easy to restore that edge too.  I wish it was a little thicker buts its a skinner not a prybar.

[William]

I have one of Jeff's knives with osage orange handles and like it very much.  A good, durable design that might have been seen during the time period either one of my personas existed in.  For the price it was certainly worth it and it holds an edge pretty well too.  I'm always impressed with any tool, be it a knife or a bow that uses or incorporates osage orange wood, knowing how tough it is to work.

[Watauga]

I stopped at Jeff White Booth at Mississinewa 1812 last fall and he seemed a little down in the dumps.
I asked him what was wrong , He said he sold every knife he brought with him! (He never dreamed they would sell so fast and so Many)
So I say that's Good Jeff!
But he said nope, I have a day and a half left and I am out of knifes!
I told him then guess he just gets to have a good time and enjoy the show!
http://www.mississinewa1812.com/