This 12 1/4 inch knife was inspired by the books 'Firebringer' and 'The Sight' by David Clement-Davies, both of which could easily be considered furry books since they are centered around animals - red deer and wolves, to be precise. The two novels share the same universe, so I thought it rather fitting to incorporate both themes into one knife.

The knife's handle is a solid, fresh piece of red deer antler from Europe - same species that stars in Firebringer, of course! The antler was shed, so no red deer were harmed to obtain it.

BTW if you've never seen a red deer, you should. The big stags are magnificent beyond words. Google calls.

Deeply engraved into the antler - by hand - is a tribal style howling wolf. ('The Sight' centers around wolves and their culture - ala Watership Down - for those who don't know.) Above her nose is a sliver moon and a scattering of stars, all etched into the antler itself, deep enough to show the natural creamy white antler 'ivory.' I engraved the wolf using the netsuke method, which is both tedious and time consuming, then crisped up the lines with a jeweler's drill for sharpness.

The deer skin laces hanging from the hilt and black and white to represent Larka and Fell, the main character sibling wolves from The Sight who are black and white themselves.

The bird feather is an Amherst pheasant tippet and no, it is not dyed. Birds feature heavily in both The Sight and Firebringer (primarily ravens and an eagle) but since ravens and eagles are illegal I had to make do with something else. Amherst feathers are lovely, and a tippet feather was just the right size for this.

A strand of snowflake obsidian beads with white seed bead spacers hangs with the leather laces. It doesn't really represent anything, it's just pretty. :p On the end of the strand is a coyote tooth - consider it a stand-in for a wolf tooth, since wolves are not legal game in my state. (Even if they were I would only use a wolf part if it was salvaged from a wolf that had died of natural causes!)

The blade is hand-knapped indian agate in a lovely shade of gray-lavender. No, it is not dyed. (I use an elk antler billet for my knapping, if anyone wondered.) It has a good point and should therefore not be handled nor treated as a toy - you could seriously hurt someone with this! For that reason I will not sell to anyone under the age of 18.

The knife sits on (and includes) a small display 'stand' that is just a chunk of antler with a notch cut deeply into it to hold the blade, as shown here. The antler used for the stand came from a reindeer, not a red deer. Why? Because in 'Firebringer' the main character Rannoch meets a wise reindeer named Birrmagnur, who later becomes instrumental in Rannoch's story. :) It's the little touches, eh?

I was originally going to engrave an oak leaf onto the other side of the antler handle as a last nod to 'Firebringer.' Those who have read the book would know exactly why I'd choose an oak leaf ;) but I decided not to because I was afraid of making the knife look too busy. That, and this was meant to be loosely inspired by those two books - I still wanted the knife to appeal to those who have not read the books, so a loose tribute was the goal.

Oh....I almost forgot. This knife has a little trick up its sleeve..namely, that engraved wolf does. To see the trick, just follow the link below to where I've posted additional photos of the knife. Scan to the bottom to see the wolf's magic trick. :)

http://raintulgey.tumblr.com/post/8.....knife-engraved

This 12+ inch knife is $60 plus insured shipping, and includes one of my hand-tied white sage smudge sticks as a gift. Note me if interested. USA sales only due to wildlife laws.