While at Andy's he showed me this sweet little stalking knife by Stuart Mitchell of Shefield.
Mr Mitchell is a legend on this side of the pond, I've coveted his work since I first saw some pix on BCUK years ago. This model, his smallest and most every-day-carry, is named after the smallest deer in the UK, which is also the species you can hunt 365 days a year.
Standing 20in/500mm tall these little deer are pretty cute, at a distance. A bit closer its a different story, they have FANGS, yep fangs! Long enough and sharp enough to pose a significant risk to everything more loveable than a pit bull. They are also extremely territorial and indeed aggressive.
Introduced by the Duke of Bedford around 1900 they've spread a long way in the last 100 years, even 'swimming' the Irish sea. I've hunted them unsuccessfully a couple of times, and eaten them very successfully a few more times.
To mention the price of commisioning an SM in the presence of wives past and present is to elicit shrieks of dismay. I think his prices are very reasonable when you consider his 30+ years of practice, and workshop full of machines, especially when you set them against the prices of some production knives.
So what's it like in the hand? In a word, Ergonomic.
In a few more; fit and finish are so flawless as to be almost other-worldly.
Double want one.
Elfa "Think of the huntings you can do for that money"
SBW "Exactly, you've never eaten Muntjac have you? You're gonna love it"
And people wonder why I put up with her!
More soon, your pal
SBW
Some pix of his work HERE
Website, Facebook ect
15 comments:
When the significant other talks to you about bespoke gear in terms of hunting adventures you have won.
I mean it- won.
Last year I considered a very nice custom rifle...Mrs. Hodgeman declared I could go on a stellar flyout hunt for the cost....well, I didn't get the rifle but I get on the plane late Aug.
'nuff said.
That looks like the perfect backcountry knife. Small and handy for skinning and the finer work inside... I like it. Add that to my "Want" list too.
Chaps
She wasn't so happy to see the hat back
SBW
Don't like it at all, just too practical looking...
Chad
you have the same problem as me, plagued by dichotomy:
You are a gentlemen of refined taste, with the fiscal wherewithal of a hobo.
In less dichotomic times Mr Mitchell could, for a modest consideration, equip the gentleman stalker with a knife to the same pattern, rendered in Odin's Eye damasteel and fine english walnut, perhaps supplied by one's gun maker, achieving a charming match to the gentleman's sporting battery.
But as discussed, modern life is rubbish, so this is unlikely to happen, unless we are fortunate enough to book a safari to hunt skeins of pigs as they take flight over the frozen wastelands of hell. Bah!
"modern life is rubbish" -- heh. I want that knife.
Sten
For me and many others who make their livings from the land and the birds and beast that land supports a knife is a working tool.
I have admired Stuarts work for years, but the prices he charges are unbelievable. Anyone would think his blades are made from unobtainium not commercially available tool steels.
Atb
Clem
Clem
Have you ever handled one? His work is very very good, and his costs go way beyond the materials. if I had the good fortune to be in that spending bracket i wouldn't think his prices unreasonable; have you seen the price of a reasonably nice wristwatch lately, especially in contrast to other small volume manufacture items like a nice waterproof jacket or rucksack? Not to mention that titanium canteen I reviewed a while back LOL
As i once had to tell a client who spluttered at the projected costs of building the bathroom she'd designed "you 'can' complete your ablutions with a bucket, a car-washing sponge, a jubilee clip and a couple of meters of secondhand hosepipe. But....'
SBW
where arrrrre you?????
Sleek and sturdy looking. It's almost Christmas...definitely asking the wifey for it!
How do they compare in taste to white tail? Are the back straps just as good in these deer as a whitey or muley??
CamoGuy
The little deer have a less iron-y taste, Roe can be almost sugary, Whitetail reminds be of Red/Fallow, Munty's less 'strong' for want of a better word
Feliz Navidad from Spain
SBW
CamoGuy
The little deer have a less iron-y taste, Roe can be almost sugary, Whitetail reminds be of Red/Fallow, Munty's less 'strong' for want of a better word
Feliz Navidad from Spain
SBW
How Did Stuart get into this? How he got the idea to start this?
Dr L
my understanding is that he learned his culturing skills working in his family business from his dad
He posts on British Blades where you can see a lot more of his work.
SBW
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