Christmas Specials

 

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Please help our Service Men and Women this Christmas Season

We are offering to all Service members an additional 10% discount on each item ordered for Christmas. What are you doing?

 

The items listed for Christmas Special apply until 10 January 2010

GIFT CERTIFICATES:    We offer gift certificates for every item listed in our Web Site.

 

SHOOTING SCHOOLS:  There is 10 % off  Shooting Schools.

Epitome

                                          There was a little man and he had a little gun,

                                                                    He killed his sitters very dead, dead, dead

                                                                        But he stopped in his swing when the birds were on the wing

                                                                             So he never hit the damn things in the head, head, head.

 

Don't be like the little man, learn to hit your birds on the wing; 

Learn the better way learn the BASC way!

 

TRY-GUN FITTINGS:   There is  10% off  Try-Gun Fittings.

 

Kirabo Safaris Christmas Special 2009

Spoil yourself this Christmas and book an exhilarating hunt in South Africa with Kirabo Safaris.  If you book a hunting trip for 2010 and confirmed deposit before 31st December 2009, you will get a $200 discount on any of our Special Packages.  To view our Special packages please visit: http://kirabo.co.za/en/africa_hunting_specials.php?menu_id=29

Do not miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity,  you will leave Kirabo with more than an unforgettable African experience - you will leave as part of the Kirabo family!

From all of us at Kirabo Safaris

COAST P7 LED LIGHT     The finest vehicle, belt, pocket or purse light we have ever seen. This 5.5 inch light has a range of 738 feet, has 200 luminas, 2.3 watts, has a battery life of 78 hours and operates on 4 AAA batteries (included) not the extremely costly special and hard to find batteries of other far more costly lights. At the affordable price you should have one in each vehicle for that emergency that turns up when least expected... $88.00

    Click on thumbnail to view P7 Light

COAST POCKET PLIERS™ WITH BIT SET:     Here along with the Coast P7 Light is the must have all on one tool. No matter where you are this is the one tool which can get you up and running again if anything can. It is truly a sturdy item manufactured to the highest standard. Contained in a sturdy pouch with belt loop so that you will never forget it when you head into the bush or hit the trail. There is NOTHING out there which compares.  At the affordable price you should have one in each vehicle for that emergency that turns up when least expected... $58.00

BOOT or JACKET PULLS:    Don't break the bank for a special individual gift.  Hand made in Scotland of roe deer antler. They are superb for pulls on Le Chameau zippers or any jacket zippers. Each in it's small gift box and each is different... $10.00 a pair   Great Gift Items when you need something for the individual who has everything!!

    Click on thumbnail to view roe deer pulls.

Zebra (left) and Springbok (right)  on Cape Buffalo  Slings...   $130.00

       Click on thumbnail to view Cape Buffalo Rifle Sling 

CROCADILE & CAPE BUFFALO Rifle Sling   100% Cape Buffalo and Crocodile with padded backing and fitted with QD sling swivels... $135.00

     Click on thumbnail to view Cape Buffalo Rifle Sling 

CAPE BUFFALO SLING    100% Cape Buffalo hide with padded backing and fitted with QD slings... $130.00

    Click on thumbnail to view Cape Buffalo Rifle Sling 

Cartridge Bags   In tartan, tan and brown, all are of Payne Gallwey design (open mouth and a hinged flap to provide for quick access to your cartridges) the tan bag on the left is for 100 cartridges and fitted with quick load slots on the outside and lined with soft red chamois leather...  £215.00   The brown Cartridge Bag on the right is of the same best quality English leather Payne Gallwey (open mouth hinged flap) for 75 cartridges and lined with tan suede...  £200.00  Both bags are fitted with adjustable leather and wide canvas straps for easy adjustment and carry.

All bags are lined with suede or chamois leather to ensure all bags are finished both inside and out to the highest professional standard. The colors of the lining vary to match the exterior finish.   

      The Tartan        Oxblood showing suede lining

   Dark Tan with tan lining           

Leather Accessory Pouch     Used at the turn of the century to contain accessories, keep them from getting lost or damaging your case.  Hand made of the finest leathers. $35.00

    Click on thumbnail to view pouch

SILICONE CLEANING CLOTH   Sturdy silicone impregnated cleaning cloths... $5.00

   Click on thumbnail to view Silicone Cloth

MOUSE PAD     Thomas Bland & Sons Gunmakers Ltd. mouse pad made as a replication of the 1900 Trade Label. Four color (gold background, white black and grey) 9 1/2 inches by 8 inches. Works perfect with all forms of mice including optical...  $8.50

   Click on thumbnail to view mouse pad

Kevin with his 505

Click on the above photo to send an e-mail to Kevin

To Call Kevin to Place an Order dial  011-27-842-001042

I’m BAD!

by

Kevin Robertson

(photos by Catherine Robertson)


The shrink scratched his head, lent back in his chair and peered at me from over the top of wire-rimmed glasses. He eventually said, “you’ve got BAD”.

I swallowed hard as visions of my family, suddenly father and husbandless flashed through my mind.

“What the heck is BAD?” I asked meekly. “Is it terminal?”

“Blade Addictive Disorder,” he replied, “and there is no known cure. Not even a frontal lobotomy will rid you of this now well-recognized affliction for knives of all kinds. You’re a hopeless case Doc.”

“Treatment?” I asked hopefully.

“Yes, and it’s simple. Go out and indulge yourself in the cutlery world! Now stop wasting my time and bugger off!”

I thanked him for his honestly, jumped up off the couch and much relieved, bolted for the door.

I’m sure my dear old mother would be the first to agree – I’ve been BAD all my life.

My scholastic performance was pitiful, to the extent that my report cards used to give her sleepless nights. But at least I now know that BAD was partly the reason why this was so. Instead of concentrating on my school work I’d design knives and day-dream of the wild places of Africa. Not just any kind of knives mind you. Only practical, easy to work with ones interested me because I somehow knew that one day I’d be using such knives on the Continent’s biggest and toughest, thick skinned species.

The Perfect Shot, my book on game animal anatomy and shot placement was the end result of my involvement with the Zimbabwean Professional Hunters and Guides Association. This wonderful organization used to hold training courses for learner PH’s and Guides in the Rifa Safari Area of the mid Zambezi Valley. As a veterinarian and game rancher who used to live only an hour and a half away from this wonderful wildlife area, I was invited there to teach the learners game animal anatomy. At the time I was also working towards attaining my own PH license so it was in a way a win-win situation for us all.

The emphasis at Rifa was on dangerous game and so it was mostly elephants and buffalo which were hunted for training purposes and it was these species, along with impala which I used to dissect for the learners. (Photo 1) The elephants were usually tusk-less cows, and they naturally required the most knife work. This was when I realized how important it is for a fixed-blade knife to be both ‘functional’ and totally ‘practical’.

At the time I owned a Puma Hunter. Its blade was good but the handle’s edges were too sharp and angular. The first time I used it to too dissect an elephant, blisters formed on my hands. To remedy this, I rounded off the handle with a grind-stone. This was a great improvement, but I soon realized that the handle was too small for my hands. Despite this, I used this knife for many years, simply because I initially had nothing better. (Photo 2)

The examination process a Zimbabwean Professional Hunter must endure to become fully licensed involves three stages, the final of which is known as the ‘proficiency’. For it, your examiners are essentially your ‘clients’ and you must in their presence, track, stalk, hunt and finally shoot either an elephant or a buffalo. No African help, in the form of either trackers or skinners are allowed on such occasions. Those being examined must do all these physically demanding tasks themselves.

I was one of 60 Learner PH’s on proficiency in the mid 1990’s. To make the process easier, five of us were grouped together so as to be able to assist one another in the skinning and recovery of all animals shot by each member of the group in turn. In the end, the rest of my group and I ended up skinning and de-boning five elephants in five days. We also had to clean all the feet, and skin the trunks and ears. This was a huge task, and one which kept us busy until late each night. If ever there was a test for a fully functional, totally ‘practical’ knife this was surly it. All the skinning and cutting caused those with unpractical, Rambo-type knives to developed blisters on their hands, which eventually popped. Gut content from the protracted butchering processes soon infected these raw areas. Infection was inevitable, despite antiseptic precaution, which ultimately resulted in their hands becoming swollen – so much so in fact that by the end of the examination period, it was impossible for them to even shave! My Puma knife was, thanks to me having rounding off the handle, practical and user friendly. It was not perfect, but by continually keeping it sharp and switching hands frequently, my hands never developed a blister. This knife was the envy of others. This experience and all the subsequent dissections necessary for the preparation of the anatomy diagrams in The Perfect Shot re-enforced my realization of what as really good knife should feel, look and handle like.

My first attempt at having a custom knife of my own design made was not a success. (Photo 3) I got the shape of the blade and the feel of the handle right because it’s designed so that it can be used in both hands, and with the cutting edge held either up or downwards. Most custom makers I have discovered tend to make the blades of their knives too thick. This seriously influences how well a knife will work. My experience is that for easy cutting, a blade must not be thicker than 2.5 mm. Blade thickness on my first custom knife was 3.2 mm inch which was too much.

Jim Morando of Sporting Wood Creations stopped me as I walked past his Dallas Safari Club convention booth last year. He wanted my opinion on some of the custom-made knives he was selling. To be honest I wasn’t all that impressed. When asked why, my answer was simply, “they’re nice, but not practical”.

It was Jim’s question of, “well what is?” which has subsequently led me on an interesting journey into the world of custom knife making. The knives Jim showed me were made by Theuns Prinsloo, an internationally-renown South African based maker. Well, one thing has lead to another and I eventually got to visit with Theuns. We got on well and he agreed to make a series of knives based on my ‘Doctari’ design. Blade length - 45/8 inches. Blade width – 11/16 inches. Overall length - 95/8 inches.

Theuns is famous for the Damascus steel he makes, and so we decided to kick the process off with an ivory handled, Damascus steel bladed knife. I supplied him with some of my personal ivory, the tip of which was used for a hidden tang model. (Photo 4, 5 & 6) As the accompanying photos show, the end result of Theuns’s efforts is a stunning example of his now well-recognized cutlery making talent. In the future, handle options for this model, especially for the countries where the importation of ivory will be a problem, will include buffalo horn or rare African hardwoods.

For the full-tang working model Theuns selected 2.5 mm thick 12C27 Sandvik Swedish steel hardened to 58/59 Rockwell. This is the best compromise for both edge holding qualities and ease of re-sharpening. The first model of this type also has an ivory handle, but buffalo horn or wooden options will also be offered. (Photo 7)

So, if you’re also a BAD suffered, and would like to own your very own custom-made ‘Doctari’ knife, contact

me at doctari@lantic.net or 0842001042.  From the USA call   011-27-842-001042

Photo 1

My Rifa Safari Area dissections were conducted for the benefit of learner Zimbabwean Professional Hunters and Guides. Here I am about to dissect a buffalo cow for a group of learners. It was sessions like this which planted the seed that ultimately grew into my book, The Perfect Shot.

This was where I also learned the value of a really functional fixed-blade knife.

 

Photo 2

The handle of my Puma Hunter was much better after I had rounded off all the sharp edges, but it was too small for my rather large hands.

Photo 3

My first attempt at a custom knife of my own design made was not a success. I was happy with its shape and feel, but the blade at 3.2 mm was too thick for easy cutting.


Photo 4

Internationally-renown South Africa knife maker, Theuns Prinsloo and Kevin Robertson discuss the manufacturing process of the first ‘Doctari’ knife.

 

Photo 5

This is how the first hidden-tang presentation model started out. The tip of an old elephant cows tusk and a piece of Theuns Prinsloo’s self-made Damascus steel cut and shaped to my specifications.


Photo 6

The end result is a stunning example of Theuns Prinsloo’s talent and the art of custom knife making.


Photo 7

The full-tang ‘working’ model is of Swedish 12C27 Sandvik steel, hardened to 58/59 Rockwell.

This knife also has an ivory handle, but buffalo horn or various African hardwoods are other options.

 

 

Below are the Doctari Range of Custom Knives

The Doctari Range Of Knives –

With Buffalo Horn Handles.



Damascus Hunter – Hidden tang Damascus blade with solid buffalo horn handle – R 3900

Fillet/Carver – Full tang Swedish 12 C 27 Sandvik steel with buffalo horn handles – R 2700

Swedish Hunter - Full tang Swedish 12 C 27 Sandvik steel with buffalo horn handles - R 1800

Folder – with Bolsters - Swedish 12 C 27 Sandvik steel with buffalo horn handles – R 2000

Bird/Trout/Caper - Swedish 12 C 27 Sandvik steel with buffalo horn handles – R 750

Folder – without Bolsters - Swedish 12 C 27 Sandvik steel with buffalo horn handles – R 1500


Hunter – Damascus Buffalo

 

Fillet/Carver – Swedish Buffalo

Hunter – Swedish Buffalo


Folder with Bolster – Swedish Buffalo




Bird/Trout/Caper – Swedish Buffalo

 

Folder – without Bolster Swedish Buffalo


Folders

 

This whole range also available with Ivory or African Hardwood handles.



Custom Sheaths by Stuart Smith.

These sheaths are individually hand made and custom moulded to each knife.

 

 

STAG and BONE HANDLED KNIVES

Great gift items

Free Shipping

 

Puma   New very well balanced hunting knife with German Stag Handle and fitted leather sheath.  $105.00

 

 Custom:  Hand Made in the US  with Stag handle and best steel blade. Fitted sheath and 10 1/2 inch Wildebeest carrier to protect the knife... $155.00

 

BOKER   Beautiful Soligen Steel German custom hand made stag handle knife with fitted sheath... $125.00

 

 

Australian Hand Made Custom Knife  Made with a red deer stag handle, quality stainless steel blade, fitted sheath and in a South African 10 1/2 inch canvas and cape buffalo case for protection. One of a kind - beautiful... $210.00

 

Queen Cutlery   Custom made in Pennsylvania, a lovely stag handle knife with fitted sheath... $98.00

 

Muela  Custom stainless steel stag handle hunting knife made in Spain with sheath... $80.00

 

Bear & Sons  Another USA custom stag handle knife with fitted sheath... $85.00 

 

Hen & Rooster   USA custom stag handle knife, very well balanced. With fitted sheath... $92.00

 

BARLOW

 

 

  Barlow designs create gifts and collectibles for all occasions. Whichever you choose will delight the recipients with finely executed engravings in life like detail and classic composition. The pleasing array of design selections ranges from sporting to botanical, whimsical to heraldic, nautical to nostalgic - - - certain to satisfy all. We furnish the entire range of fine Barlow gifts: 

 

          Click on thumbnail to view coasters, letter openers, money clips & knife...               

 

Coaster Sets   Available in Upland Game Bird Set, woodcock, grouse, quail & pheasant $30.00... Waterfowl Set, wood duck, mallard, pintails, geese $30.00... Songbird Set, these are hand painted in full color, goldfinch, cardinal, hummingbird, chickadee... $44.00           

                            

Letter Openers   Richly detail scenes carved and inlaid in solid brass. $25.00... Available in hand painted hummingbird, mallards in flight, wood ducks, fisherman & loon pair... $30.00

 

Tie Tacs & Tie Bar Top-drawer accessories for the sporting man, round in shape. $15.00 Available with mallard in flight, woods duck and loon...             

                                                                                                              

Money Clip Knives   Gold plate finish, stainless steel blade & nail file. $25.00 Available with pheasants, mallards in flight, mallards in water, fly fisherman, setter, Labrador & caduceus...

  Contact us for the full line of special order Barlow Gift Items - Swiss style knives, pen knives, lock back knives, oval key chains, key chain knives, round key chains, western key chains, rectangular key chains, leather key chains, money clips, money clip knives, oval buckles, bolo ties, tie tacs, tie bars, cuff links, valet boxes, stamp holders, pen stands, business card cases, brass business card holders, book marks, oval boxes, pill boxes and cribbage boards.

 

For the Lady in Your Life   Necklaces, lockets, locket pins, oval earrings, oval pins, round earrings and link bracelets.

 

WILDLIFE COLLECTION   Pewter sporting pins...   $6.95 each

 

WOODCOCK HILL   Gun Socks, one size fits all, protect your shotguns and rifles... $6.00

 

ELECTRONIC EAR PROTECTORS

 

PELATOR TACTICAL 6S   Ear Protectors, lightweight and easy to use, they operate on 4 AAA batteries (not included). Great for clay shooting, sitting in a deer or turkey stand...  $70.00

 

 

VP 90 Total corrosion protection  Over 250,000 shooters use this remarkable product worldwide to protect guns or any metal object either in a gun safe or bag.  Advanced vapor phase action deposits and invisible monomolecular coating on any exposed metal, leaving glass, plastic and wood unaffected.   Put this in your gun safe and you will have complete protection from rust, it is a fantastic product.   Each packet lasts for several months in your safe. Defeat Rust for only...  $13.50   

 

 

 

 

 

The ideal gift for the outdoor man or woman,