Jay Bigler Collection, handmade, horseshoe, fixed-blade knife w/ antler handle

Description

Thank you for your interest in this knife. My father, Jay Bigler, a hobbyist knifemaker, was pretty much self-taught and didn't begin making knives until after he retired in 1993. He passed in 2016, but had suffered from a severe stroke in 2012 at the age of 82. He was not able to work on knives from that time on. Before that he was prolific in the knives he produced. No two were ever completely alike. Unfortunately, he did not catalog his knives as to when they were made or the materials that he used.
This is a unique little knife. I am sure, but can’t prove it, that it is Dad’s work. Unfortunately, it is not signed. It is from a cache of more than 20 knives that he made that I found in a cabinet early last year. I also feel that it is an early knife because he worked a lot with turning old horseshoes into knives when he was learning his craft, and the blade doesn’t have his customary hone to it like his later knives do.
The handle is made of antler. The knife is 4.5” long with a 2.25” blade and handle. The “pocking” that you can see on the blade is part of the knife’s charm. It’s not rough; it’s been polished but not smoothly beaten out. The copper coloring on parts of the blade is very smooth. I don’t think that it is corrosion because it is so smooth. It might just be an element of the metal that was brought out in the polishing.
Selling “as is”.
As a side note: I am so grateful to the buyers who have purchased Bigler knives. It makes me glad to know how widely appreciated my father’s work is. Through sales here, knives have gone to collectors in over 20 states, from coast to coast and border to border.