A knife of many firsts, this is the direction I hope to take my craft.  The wife of one of the prosecutors in my office asked me to make a knife for her husband.  Although many months late, I finally finished the knife.  I took inspiration from the great knifemakers: Wayne Morgan, Turtle Knives, and Tomas Rucker.  These are three of my favorite makers.  The blade is 52100 ball bearing steel, hand forged and acid etched.  The acid etch will inhibit rusting.  The guard is “00” wrought iron.  The wrought iron did not etch like I was expecting.  The hidden tang handle is made of stabilized maple burl, black spacer material, desert ironwood, water buffalo horn, and a `leather spacer.  The hand made sheath was made and tooled by my wife, Mary Hinds.   The overriding theme of the knife substantiates my business logo: Hand Made for Hard Use!  I hope Jake gets many years of hard use with this knife.  Vance Hinds