Cool Custom: Rhidian Gatrill’s Safety Hunter Reproduction

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Cool Custom: Rhidian Gatrill’s Safety Hunter Reproduction
The catch piece that covers the tip when the Marble’s Safety Hunter repro by Rhidian Gatrill is closed also folds into the handle and locks in under the square tang to lock the blade open. Rhidian said making that part of the knife was the most difficult step—getting the dimensions just right so the blade would both close and open properly, and the catch piece would both cover the tip with the knife closed and fold and lock in at the bottom of the tang with the blade open. (Jocelyn Frasier knife image)

Rhidian Gatrill reproduces the folding Marble’s Safety Hunter in grand style.

Rhidian Gatrill not only satisfied a personal goal of reproducing the classic Marble’s Safety Hunter but also parlayed it into Best Hunter and Best of Show at the 2024 Oregon Knife Show.

He said he had always wanted to reproduce the clever old pattern with the folding catch piece that covers the tip of the closed blade. Not only does the catch piece enable the folder to have a blade longer than the handle, it also locks the blade of the slipjoint knife open. As Rhidian noted, “I just thought the mechanism was really cool, and it’s a big knife. I like big knives, but mostly it’s just the mechanism.”

He found a copy of the original Marble’s patent drawing dated May 19, 1903, on the internet and used it as a reference to make the knife. ABS master smith Tommy Gann forged the damascus specifically for the repro. “Tommy and I discussed a collaboration, and I figured if a master smith was going to make some damascus for me then it should be for a big bad knife, and so the Safety Hunter was definitely it. I sent him my drawing,” Rhidian wrote, “and he forged the steel to fit the blade and parts.”

Gatrill Safety Hunter Specs
Knife: Marble’s Safety Hunter reproduction
Maker: Rhidian Gatrill
Blade length: 5”
Blade steel: A lower-layer, four-bar Turkish twist damascus forged by ABS master smith Tommy Gann
Swing guard: Same material as the blade and sculpted by Rhidian
Action: Slipjoint construction w/half stop; blade tip catch piece doubles as a lock to lock the blade open
Handle material: European red stag in a Coke bottle pattern
Bolsters: Stainless steel fluted by the maker
Closed length: 4.75”
Rhidian’s price for a similar knife: $5,000 ($3,500-$4,000 if in straight stainless or carbon blade steel)

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