Gene Ingram Collaboration, Lacer Knife

[Schwert]

Gene Ingram has added the Lacer Personal Project knife to his offerings. He will make the blade; Schwert (Randy Schaffer) will hand lace the handle in kangaroo leather.



Some of you may remember that I braided a lanyard in kangaroo leather that I sent to Gene Ingram to incorporate into my SLK knife neck sheath. Well, apparently Gene thought I did a decent job on the lanyard which sparked a new idea. He dreamed up this Project Knife that would include a leather laced edge. He would make the knife I would lace/braid the handle.



Well here is the first one. This is a personal sized utility, 6.5 long and 1 wide, done in D2. This one is satin finished and laced with and 8-plait round pattern in kangaroo leather.

As you can imagine I am pretty excited about being asked to do this lace on a knife made by Gene. This handle is meant to be a project. It will not last forever and the customer can relace or change it as they desire. I expect the lace to last quite a while, but honestly do not know how long it will last. I will be testing this over the next few weeks to see how it holds up to wet, sweat, torque, and whatever. Gene dipped the lace in his wax/oil bath which should make it fairly water resistant, but grime etc over time will add “character”.

Standard price is $135, with about 8-12 weeks wait time.

Standard blade is bead blasted D2 (note image is a satin finish). Pocket sheath is also included. Standard lace is an 8-plait round pattern done with 2-strings of kangaroo lace.

Options or changes can be discussed with Gene.

If interested please either PM me or contact Gene directly through his website.

Gene Ingram

Note: I receive a portion of the purchase price from these knives.

[Colin KC]

Extremely cool Randy

I like it very much, I should think that it would get very mucky, very quickly, but as a service, why not include, with each one, a small sheet with instructions on how to replace it?

[Schwert]

Good idea Colin. The pattern is from Bruce Grant's book and a reference could certainly be included. Not sure about a photocopy though as it is copyrighted material.

[The General]

Bead blast and D2...

[Schwert]

I had a question about replacing the leather wrap with gutted paracord, so I quickly laced my other knife with a simple spiral wrap of paracord. The customer who did not want to try relacing with leather could easily do this wrap, but it does not cover the finger points as well as the leather. Functional, easy but, in my eyes not as attractive.

Also note, this paracord laced knife is the standard bead blasted blade version.



A cross stitch pattern (spiral around then return) would be better, but gutted paracord is too thick to allow more than one pass through the holes. Thinner nylon cord or leather lace could easily follow this pattern however.

[Roger Gregory]

Randy, that looks like a really neat knife. Your braiding is something else!

Don't mind Wayne, he's just a steel-tart

Roger

[Chux]

Wow, looks interesting, bet it is quite grippy too.

[leon-1]

Randy, how wide are the kangaroo hide laces that you are using?

I have some green cord, very much like a miniature version of paracord, about 2mm in width, if you want 5 or 10 meters then I could always send it to you .

Oh and as always very nice work and the SLK looks better each time I see it.

[Schwert]

Leon, that is 1/8" kangaroo lace. It is probably about 1mm or so thick (David Morgan stuff). I can make 3 passes through the holes easily and four with a bit of effort. This pattern requires 2 passes through each hole except for the first 2 on the top and bottom which have 2 or 3.

The 2mm green cord would probably braid much like the leather lace, you could get multiple passes through the holes and do more complex patterns than standard gutless paracord allows. If it pulled flat like gutted paracord then the coverage would be better. I have tried hard to keep the metal from showing through and this lace works to my advantage for that. Round materials that did not flatten much would open the weave a bit.

Gene's whole idea was that this new knife (bigger than the SLK but similar in shape) would present customization options to the owner. The initial braid may last for a long time but the customer would be able, with fairly little expense change the material or pattern as they desired. There are probably many edge lace patterns that would work, and applique fill patterns that would also be fun to try. I am still experimenting and having fun.

I would not mind having a bit of that cord. I will PM my address....thanks.

[leon-1]

I would not mind having a bit of that cord. I will PM my address....thanks.

My pleasure

[The General]

Oh I like D2 just fine, only its a semi stainless and bead blast is a rust magnet. That combined with this design is trouble in the making if you see what I mean? From a rust perspective.

Great looking knife otherwise!

[Bazza]

Randy, thats really good work, unusual and fits with Gene`s blade very well. Could you use Ito cord ( Japanese handle wrap ) and epoxy?

[Stew]

Interesting. A nice way to make a scaleless knife more comfortable in the hand.

[Schwert]

I have never done an Ito wrap, but if the material chosen would pass a 3mm hole than it is entirely possible. Gene's whole concept was to allow and encourage some creative input from the owner. My original lace sort of points the way...the owner can do just about anything desired.

I have a naked Ingram pocket knife that is super flat but I find its twin with micarta a whole lot easier to use. The lace edge makes an essentially naked handle much easier to hold and manipulate.

Gene will also be offering this knife in 440C and S30V. The S30V will add a slight premium to the cost.

[tenbears10]

Looks fantastic Randy. I'm really glad that you and Gene have done a project together, it was only a matter of time.

I love the look of the design and the fact that people can customise it when the braid wears out. I think the leather will last a fair while going on the kangaroo stuff I have which shows hardly any wear even after some years of constant carrying.

Well done to both of you.

Bill