I’m posting this knife not because I’m showing off what a wonderful edge I’ve achieved, but rather because it’s simply an interesting knife. The owner apparently inherited the knife and told me that it was a “collector” type and had been told it was worth quite a bit. I did a little checking on the 'net and found that it is indeed worth somewhere up in the hundreds of dollars. One was posted on e-Bay where the guy was asking $500. This example is a model 10A. The manufacturer still makes the knife (model 10B) and retails them for $285.
The maker is R. H. Ruana in Bonner, Montana. http://www.ruanaknives.com/ This is a pretty small knife - about 6.5" long. Blade 3.5", handle 2.75". It has a full length rat-tail tang on which an aluminum handle has been cast. Elk antler scales are riveted on. The blade is hollow-ground (obviously by hand) to the edge, with no secondary bevels added. This example had never been sharpened - probably never used. The edge was pretty typical for a factory edge - sharp, but not wicked sharp. It has some scratches parallel to the spine - apparently caused by grit in the sheath.
According to Ruana’s web site, this model is/was popular with forest firefighters and is commonly referred to as the “Smokejumper.”
Not wanting to detract too much from the value of the knife, I sharpened it at 20 dps, starting with 1000-grit diamonds. It sharpened nicely, with the bevels reasonably uniform and barely visible at no more than 0.028" wide.
Thanks to friend Mark Lehmann for letting me do this one.
