Any Scagle knife is a VERY Valuable!!! piece of history. He was the original 20th century knife maker and considered the No 1 guy. People like Ed Henry, Bob Loveless, and others constitute the 2nd generation of custom knife makers.
I started in 1984 under a guy named Mal Dion who lived in Santa Barbara and was an FFA Inspector. He was taught by Bob Lum who was considered the modern inventor of the Tanto style knife. Lum was also a photographer of some repute and actually worked at a Camera store during the day in SB and made knives at night. Lum was also considered 2nd generation. I always considered him to be interesting since he worked a $10/hour job but was selling knives in the 70's & 80's for $1500 a pop with a waiting list a mile long.
I considered myself to be among the 4th generation of knife makers. I could never transition between being a machinist and making knives full time as the cash flow of that business is VERY cyclic. After I made 250 of the same design I'd had enough, and chose machine shop.
Not counting the 250 daggers made for one outfit, I made about 100 hunting knives. All of them are marked
W.R.Buchanan
Ventura CA
The signature was burned in by electrochemical etching and the sig you see took 35 times to get exactly right. It was then blown up and cleaned up so all the lines flowed correctly and then reduced and the stencils made.
I still have all of my stuff and could go back to it any time, however it won't be for money. Just another hobby. Problem with custom knife making is that there are knives made in China that I couldn't make in a week, and they sell for $10. Cold Steel is one of the outfits that drove nails into the coffins of many Custom Knife Makers.
This is why I wouldn't do it for a living. Although knowing what I know now I could probably sell some knives.
Randy