If you or someone on your list has been very, very good this year, maybe it’s time for a special gift. Special gifts, wile seldom inexpensive, don’t have to be bank-breakers. Often, they’re special because they’re what a recipient would buy for themselves.
There really are affordable gifts out there for the outdoor enthusiasts that say “especially for you” without saying “I’m deeply indebted because of you.”
If there’s a knife lover is on your shopping list, your either fortunate or totally confused. There are tons of great knives out there.
Knifemaking, like gunsmithing, is at a high point today.
If, however, your special person happens to be a Corvette (the car, not the sailing vessel) enthusiast, there are custom knives for them that are absolutely, uniquely Corvette.
During the Nashville Custom Knife Show last month, I happened across knives with scales (handles) made of a substance I’d never heard of: Corvitte. Turns out it’s man-made -and distinctly Corvette.
The handles on the custom knives from DRT Knives in the photo are formed from more than 50 years of built-up automotive paint chipped out of the decommissioned paint booth at the Corvette plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
From 1953 until 1998, every Corvettes made was painted in that paint room. When painting techniques changed, a new room was built. The old paint room was dismantled and an employee broke all the paint off the walls-then sold it to a lapidary jewelry maker.
Unfortunately, I can’t send you to the DRT Knives website because it has, apparently, expired. And knife maker David Taber told in Nashville all his custom capacity was sold out for the next year.
But I didn’t build you up to let you down. A web search sent me to Etsy where I and found a second source for the unique handles. The company’s called “HatpinsTooCorvettes” -and they have knives with the same handles. They’re priced at $379.99 -but I can’t speak to the quality of the knives/blades/metal.
But I can tell you the Corvitte/Fordite handles (Etsy calls it “Corvette Fordite”) are unique.
If you’re looking for a working knife that’s durable and still unique to your special someone, consider an engraved knife from Buck Knives. Engraving makes it unique, but considerably more affordable- than a full-on custom.
Importantly, it can still be bought and received in time for Christmas- if you hurry.
Every American-made Buck Knife is hand sharpened by craftsmen with years, if not decades, of experience. My vintage Model 112 Ranger, for example, is almost indistinguishable from today’s model. There’s no “change for the sake of change” in their knives. And their knives are durable. And they’re durable.
You can’t get a fully-custom Buck delivered before Christmas. But you can still get a Buck personalized with laser engraving for the cost of the knife plus an additional $9. But the deadline for making a Christmas delivery is 12/9/22 at 11:59 pm PST.
If you’re looking for something for a shooter, here’s another product I saw being made during my very brief visit to Idaho.
Alien Gear's manufacturing facilities are located directly across a parking lot from Buck Knives, so we made time for a quick tour of their facilities. It was a quick walk, but a fundamental change in manufacturing technique and philosophy. Alien, unlike Buck, is focused on “just-in-time” manufacturing.
Workers were rushing around, assembling products heading out to customers later that day. More than the precision manufacturing machines running almost by themselves, Alien’s facilities featured walls, racks and bins of parts being transported from the machines that made them to workers waiting to assemble them into finished products. Then, they were hustled to final inspection, packaging and shipping. It was “J-I-T” to a level I’d never seen before.
While frenetic and entertaining, it wasn’t the kind of system that lends itself to the illustrative photography I favor. So, there aren’t illustrations of the process. You’ll have to take me at my word that each product is assembled to fit specific orders.
What most impressed me was their Bigfoot gun belts area. Arranged along the walls were gun belts in their elemental form. Bigfoot (feet?) Belts all have a spring steel core, making the stretch/sag of normal belts almost impossible. Available in 14 or 18-ounce drum dyed cowhide leather, they also feature roller buckles that should keep them looking good in the long-term. You can also get “tactical” style rigger’s belts -also with the steel core, Cobra buckles and a tactical “V-ring” for hanging accessories.
Having owned, stretched, and discarded more than a couple of gun belts over the years. I’m no stranger to the issues you run into when carrying anything from a subcompact to a full-size pistol, magazines and accessories. I’ve been wearing the Bigfoot nearly every day since picking mine up in Idaho. Other than the (slight) indentation where it’s buckled daily, it looks like it did when I watched it being assembled.
Finally, a suggestion for the shooter who has -almost-everything. How about a customized pistol that doesn’t take months (or years) to get? Earlier this year, I took advantage of SIG Sauer’s Custom Works offer to design a custom P320 pistol. Since I already had a P320 fire control module, I simply picked the parts I wanted to try and duplicate-as closely as possible- my vintage X5 competition pistol. It wasn’t just great fun, it was a learning experience as I realized just how many permutations of a single pistol were possible-all around a single fire-control mechanism.
You’re not going to get one of those pistols from SIG (or other companies) in time for Christmas, but you can certainly create some sort of package that lets that special shooter know they can start designing their custom pistol ASAP.
With this exception, everything we describe to you in our holiday shopping suggestions is currently in-stock and available in time for Christmas.
As always, we’ll keep you posted.
-- Jim Shepherd