Finally, a reasonably priced custom hunting knife

[jar]

I finnaly found a reasonably priced custom hunting knife. These are made by Ron Leuschen of Little Hen Knives. They are all hand forged and the handles are some of the most beautiful burled maple I've ever seen. Best of all, the price is less than what some of the WallyWorld knives are going for.



Littlle Hen Knives

E-mail Ron and ask about his Little Hunting Knife

little_hen_knives@hotmail.com

 

[Kingcreek]

congrats jar,
I have heard good things about Little hen but have not yet handled one myself.
I am a casual collector/user of custom knives. I am amazed at what some folks will pay for a production knife when there are some real bargain custom knives out there. I have a forged Tinus Beukus (s.africa) that I paid $70 and thats with an ostrich sheath. My primary hunting knife is a MadPoet D2 drop point (the late Mel Sorg,jr) for about $100. My serious mountain/survival/elk knife is a Wegner design- Buguszewski ProHunter.
Anybody that thinks these prices are too steep has never used a really good knife. Nothing against some of the good factory blades but they just aint the same.

 

[EzraRiley]

Tell me more about the ProHunter, the Wegner design. Was this designed by Tim Wegner of Blade-Tech? Tim is a friend of mine but we haven't talked for awhile so I don't know what he's been up to lately. I do have the two Tim Wegner/Spyderco knives he designed (The Tim Wegner and the Tim Wegner, Jr.) and think they're terrific.

 

[dog1]

Have you tried anza knives? I have had great luck with them, and they are pricrd right.

 

[Kingcreek]

Ezra,
Tim Wegner designed, and Phil Boguszewski made the ProHunter. Mine is ser#2. Very much like a fixed blade version of the Spyderco Wegner, slightly longer blade (mine is 440v steel), removable black micarta scales, and a BladeTech sheath with that great TechLok fastener. Rob Simonich also made a few same pattern in Talonite. Very useful design.
Kind of a dual purpose knife- tactical/hunter.
I can e-mail a pic if you want.

 

[redneck]

You guys should go check out www.bladeforums.com sometime. There are a few different for sale forums on there where you can pick up some very good production and custom peices for good prices.
Also, just take a look in the shop talk forum. Alot of the guys have their own webpages. Theres some really talented guys there that don't necessarily get the recognition they deserve. They may have something in stock that catches your eye, or they might just be the the one to make that "perfect" knife you've been trying to find for so long.

One that comes to mind for hunting knives is Neal Blackwood. he hasn't done alot of posting lately, but I remember looking over his site and really liking the small game and skinning knives.

Bob Dozier is held in high regard for hunting knives also. Does some really great things with D2.

 

[Ron L]

I've always been a big fan of Bob Dozier's work. I've played with a few of his things before I settled on one of his K1's with maroon micarta.

I also just picked up a skinner by Terry Hearn that I really love. For a semi-custom handmade, it was quite affordable.

 

[jar]

Here's a bowie that Ron made for me. It's an 8" blade, differntially tempered, maple burl handle with copper bolster. This knife just plain feels great in my hand. In fact, it feels and handles like a much smaller knife but still has the capablitity of doing serious chopping when needed.

and a better view of the temper line