Genuine W. Scagel / V.L.&A. Sheath Knife. This knife has a 4.5" bellied blade and a leather and red disk stacked ...

Genuine W. Scagel / V.L.&A. Sheath Knife. This knife has a 4.5" bellied blade and a leather and red disk stacked handle. Overall good condition with a brown leather sheath with snap closure. Blade markings: V.L.&A. Chicago on one side and W,Scagel USA on the other. The blade is sharpened cleanly, slightly rounded point, some rub marks on the blade. Light oxidation on the brass. The sheath is very good with minor entry marks and some green on the rivets. William Scagel (1873-1963) is the pioneer of high quality, custom hand-made knives, during a time when knives were being mass produced. His work made a profound impact on the cutlery trade. He was the mentor to W.D."Bo" Randall of Randall Made Knife fame. As Bo's story goes; he was taking a stroll near Walloon Lake in Michigan and saw a man scraping the paint off his boat with a very "Distinctive looking" knife and it was standing up to the abuse, so he bought it! The knife was hand made by W. Scagel. This event motivated Bo to create a high quality, hand made knife in much the same way of W. Scagel. Back to Bill Scagel: Bill's first shop in Muskegon MI burnt down and he re-opened in Fruitport MI. He sold his beautiful hand-made knives through Abercrombie & Fitch and subsidiaries like V.L.&A. Since he made all of his knives one at a time,his output was limited and his works rarely come up for sale today. Some of his work is featured in the Smithsonian Institute and the largest single collection can be found at the Randall Knife Museum in Orlando Florida.