Ah! sorry, my knowledge on knifes roughly consists of the one end you hold and the other end you cut with!
Well, no harm done...
So is it really worth it, or should I stop being sentimental over a pice of metal and just move it along and get another?
Like you, I'm not a big fan of a large ricasso.
A while back I had a knife made by a newish maker, based on a design he'd shown here on BCUK. I specifically asked for the ricasso on my knife to be trimmed back quite a bit more than the one on the design he'd originally shown.
When I received the knife, I was disappointed that he hadn't done what I asked with the ricasso, but the knife was otherwise very well done, and considering the price (it was a real bargain and I told him so) I didn't feel that it was worth going back to him about it.
It's about a year since I got it, and I've always kept it by the wood burner, hanging on the wood basket in a lovely double-dangler sheath made by another guy on this forum. The knife has a full flat grind, and I use it most mornings for splitting wood to make kindling, at which it excels. Sometimes I baton but mostly just firm hand pressure is enough, and that doesn't wake the wife.
I can honestly say that the fact that the ricasso is larger than what I really wanted has been absolutely no problem at all, and to be even more honest I wonder if my preference isn't more a matter of aesthetics than practicality. I just don't like the look of a large ricasso, but, dammit, the edge has to stop somewhere.
No, don't stop being sentimental about it, that's what makes humans human. I have lots of tools that I'm very sentimental about. The old hammer that was my dad's, the knife that I've had since I was in the Cubs (also by the wood burner, but we never did find out what mum did with the sheath before she died so it's wrapped in an old cloth), a Tramontina machete that had its handle chewed by a favourite dog, also long since dead. Any of these would fetch between twenty-five pence and a couple of quid in a car boot sale, but if I had to choose between the Tramontina and my Stuart Mitchell in RWL34 I'd take the Tramontina with its chewed-up handle without hesitation. I can get another Deval Bushcrafter easily enough but that dog will never again show me how much he loves the taste of my sweat.
If the sentimental value of the knife is important, then before doing anything at all to it I'd recommend getting another knife like it, if necessary modifying that one instead, and see what -- if any -- difference it makes.
Just my 2 currency units.
