Tale of Darkness

.............................

Finally...

What began as an idea last Oct over a text chat came to fruition after miles of setback for a "simple" project. A pair of Heimskringla damasteel pivot collar for my Shirogorov/ Sinkevich Dark collaboration.

Machinist pal and long time cycling buddy, Nic took on the challenge, looking for the right material and sneaking in machine time during work hours whenever no one's looking and completing all the rest at home. Manual sawing... yes manual sawing included.

In between insufficient, broken off and replacement tools, lack of the "right" etching stuff like nitric acid... somehow the outcome matches up rather aptly with my initial ideas...




A matching clip at some later time was part of the plan. But with the finish on the collar now, I'm moving away from that..

I'm not really big into modifications most time and this is really one of my favorite knives both in possession and in appreciation of knife designs.

So to actually get all this going, the idea was to complement on an already awesome design and of course great work done with every of the original parts.

No garish over-coloring and things that disturbs the flow


Lacking the photographic skills and equipment to capture proper pictures, I'll just have to say it in words.... The light etching, in part due to a lack of nitric acid and the near resistance of this damasteel to getting etch actually turns out to be a "bonus" when viewed in the hand but a nightmare when trying to capture in pictures...

Use of Damascus by Shirogorov is largely reserved for full customs these days and a few collababorations and odd balls mostly from an earlier period. Most are on the blades and has light smooth etches as opposed to the hi-contrast ones often seen in other makes.  To me that is almost like a subtle signature.

A hi contrast etch would look awesome over here too given the black G10 here but having this now, there is a continuity to the whole knife with its original look.

So when things turn out the way they did on this pair of collars-- it clicked right away for me. enough to tease but not overboard.

I'm still not over-- trying to hunt those elusive Dark V or another one of the seven of this original "100 pc edition" but with a flipper. But it's hard to stomach the prices of those on the secondary market now...

Anyone of those, especially the "V"s will go well with this very last 99th Dark... no, you aren't reading it wrongly... 100 is 99. The story?.. well another time perhaps. :)