I am sorry that I didn’t elaborate on the “good deal” that I got on the Helvies. In my Google search I ran across an old webpage that offered Helvie knives which redirected me to the new website of Mountain Heritage Crafters. The new site did not offer Helvies so I emailed them an inquiry. It seems that Mountain Heritage Crafters is owned and operated by Phillip and Jessica Barton who recently move from my area to Richmond, VA. Their web address is
www.mhcrafters.com They dropped Helvie from their inventory because each Helvie is unique in color and they were afraid that customers would be dissatisfied if they receive something other than what they pictured on their website. He offered me his remaining stock of five knives at cost along with free shipping and I took the offer. I just received the knives yesterday and have not had a chance to work with them. I played around with them a little last night and I am very impressed. Before the only knife that I used was my old Boker USA. Although it is extremely sharp it is nowhere as sharp as the Helvies. I am very anxious to see how much more detail that I will be able to get with these new knives.
A couple of you have inquired about viewing some of my work. I will try and get something for you to see. I have taken a snapshot of a couple things setting around here and attached it to this message. These are done in either Butternut or Black Walnut and carved with my Boker. The characteratures are done in Basswood. For the most part I am a very unpretentious person and carve only for my own amusement. I have not shown my work and most of my efforts have been directed toward determining what I am capable of accomplishing. In doing this I have tried to replicate other renowned carver’s work using my own method of carving in an effort to reproduce as much a likeness of the original as possible. My best and original work has always been done for other people and I do not have any pictures of these carvings.
Thanks for the interest that you have shown.
Gene