Can post my latest 2 as the Owner Here now has them...
Well, almost, since Christmas hasn't arrived yet here and these are presents for my daughters.
Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, my wife and I are very pleased and excited to receive these. They are very special for several reasons.
The back story is that we received the wood as a wedding gift from our mutual friend from the Army. That was 28 years ago. It was an unusual gift but Rob was an unusual guy. He learned Cambodian in the Army at the DLI in Monterrey, then got out and joined the US Foreign Service. He took to wearing a large red Fez, which I have yet to see another person wear, even in our quirky Portland known for a bagpipe playing unicyclist and the countrys largest naked bike ride.
So I've had this wood tucked away on a bookshelf for 28 years, not knowing what to do with it. In fact, I had forgotten about it until Archer decided to turn lemons into lemonade.
When Archer's tree fell down and he decided to mill the wood to turn it into a table, STANDY kindly offered to make a knife for Archer using some of the wood from Archer's tree. When I read that post in Archer's thread, that's when it clicked for me. I remembered I had the wedding wood and asked STANDY if he would make a couple knives for me too.
I didn't know what kind of knife or anything about the design. STANDY asked about my daughters and came up with the ideas. I hadn't seen the knives until they arrived recently and I can say i wouldn't change a thing.
Both daughters will use the knife primarily for preparing vegetables, as one is a vegetarian and the other is a vegan. The size and shape of the blade is perfect for this. You can see in my attached pictures how nicely balanced they are. The handles are also comfortable as well as attractive.
STANDY had the idea to add special colored liners, green for the vegan and pink for my eldest daughter who is a cancer survivor (a year and a half cancer free following surgery.) After STANDY recieved the wood and had started on the knives, I learned from another Army buddy that Rob had passed away from pancreatic cancer. Rob didn't learn what became of his gift, but no doubt he'd approve.
I'm grateful to STANDY for both his craftsmanship and his ideas for how to make these uniquely designed for each daughter. As I told him, he's become part of our family story. My daughter's will likely never meet him but when they use their knives they'll think of dad's Australian friend who's making knives downunder.
Wishing you all good memories this holiday season.
