Kevin Casey feathers his cap with an outstanding array of custom throwback blades.

Kevin Casey may have hit on a great idea for knives with both a custom touch and an antique look and feel.

Taking some old yet inexpensive late 19th/early 20th-century dinner knives with mother-of-pearl handles and silver ferrules, he replaced the original blades with those forged of assorted patterns of his feather damascus. The result, the Little Feathers, went fast at the Solvang Show, with two selling individually and five going to one shrewd buyer.

Kevin said similar versions of the original antique knives are available on eBay, Etsy, at jewelry stores, flea markets and the like. He cleaned the insides of the ferrules with acetone before epoxying his damascus blades into them. He cleaned the ferrules with Flitz and a toothbrush, polished the handles and the knives basically were ready to go. He plans to do more like them in the future.

Little Feathers Specs
Maker: Kevin Casey
Model type: Dinner knives
Blade lengths: 2.5 to 4.25”
Blade material: Assorted patterns of feather damascus in 1080 carbon and 15N20 nickel-alloy steels w/a thin layer of pure nickel; depending on the pattern, the layer count ranges anywhere from 50 to 500
Handle material: Mother-of-pearl
Ferrules: Silver
Overall lengths: 6.5 to 8”
Maker’s list price range for similar knives: $600 to $900 each

Check Out More Cool Custom Knives:

• Jim Poor’s Slip Joint
• Andrew Meers’ Pizza Cutter
• Kurt Swearingen’s Buffalo Hunter Set
• Isaiah Schroeder’s Gyuto