TrailGuide's
Specs:
Blade Length: 4.5" Weight: 9.7 oz.
Blade Thickness: .215" (7/32") Sheath: Leather
Overall Length: 9" Blade Steel: A-2
Rc: 57-59
The Standard handle materials were:
Classic (Leather), Dymar, Chestnut, Sambar Stag, and Micarta (though it was not listed in the 1995 catalog).
The picture below shows the standard Dymar and Sambar Stag versions and the standard leather sheath. The sheaths did vary over time since the suppliers changed this is one of the later style of sheaths. Generally the quality of the sheaths improved over time. The Dymar variation, which was not popular when new, is far scarcer than the other standard handle material offerings which were, stag, Dymar, leather, Micarta, and, chestnut. In terms of value, the stag version is worth more than the other standard offerings, even though the stag handled knives were produced in fairly high numbers. In fact the stag and leather handle material were the two most popular materials offered in this model and were produced in greater numbers than the other variations . Leather was the most popular followed by stag. This was pretty much the case for all the models that these materials were offered on. Leather generally made up 50% of production with stag making up about 25%. The remaining 25% was split among all the other standard and none standard offerings. If you consider that many of the other offerings were actually made of Dymondwood that was dyed in various colors, Dymondwood probably made up 10% of the remaining 25% of production.
Below are two views of the chestnut handled version. Chestnut is a variation that is not often encountered and seems to be almost as hard to come by as the Dymar version. Chestnut is actually Dymondwood.
Here is an example of the Micarta handled variation. It appears that Micarta was used on about 10-12% of all the TrailGuide's.
Here is another Micarta handled TrailGuide this one does not have a butt cap and as marked One of a Kind.
photo courtesy of Tom Carey
photo courtesy of Tom Carey
Here are two views of the leather handled Classic version. Leather was the most popular handle material offered on the TrailGuide model making up about 50% of TrailGuide production, and it was the cheapest variation offered. However, I would like to point out that it was the most expensive material for the factory to install due to the extra labor involved.
Here we have two pictures of the current TrailGuide. As it is offered by the current incarnation of BlackJack Knives, which is now owned by noted gun and knife writer, Ken Warner. You can check out his current offerings by going to his web site at www.blackjackknives.com The single lug guard TGII is on top and the double lug guard TGIII is on the bottom. This model has also been made in several other handle materials and has even been offered as a subhilt. If your looking for a user these knives are very nice.
Here are two views of a rosewood (Dymondwood) handled TrailGuide with the attractively polished aluminum guard which is not often encountered.
Below is a collection of TrailGuides that belongs to Steven Jones who was kind of knife to send in this photo. Notice there are several rare variations featured in this group. This is a collection that anyone could be proud of. I will take a stab at describing the knives. Below. The picture was originally rather dark and the corrections I made have distorted the picture somewhat.
First I will cover the knives on the left side from top to bottom.
1. Red Stag 2. Crown Stag 3. Single Grind 4. Stag 5. An A.G. Russell exclusive in Damascus and stag. 6. Craig Sanders engraved Leisure Lynx with aluminum guard and I believe reconstituted ivory. If it's not than the handle material is Dymar. 7. Rosewood (Dymondwood) handled 1996 Ducks Unlimited knife.
Next is the Right side from top to bottom. 8. Walnut (Dymondwood) handled limited edition. 9. Rosewood (Dymondwood) handled limited edition with brass butt cap. 10. Rosewood (Dymondwood) handle and standard butt cap. 11. Cocobolo with brass butt cap. Only about 25 of these were made. 12. Standard Micarta handled variant. 13. Reconstituted ivory handle and aluminum guard. There are probably less than 50 of these in existence.
Here is a limited edition example featuring a Walnut colored Dymondwood handle. At this time I do not know how many of these were made.
It seems that the information I reported earlier on this variant is incorrect. I originally was told that there were only two prototypes of a proposed Ducks Unlimited knife for 1996. The exact same art work was used by Buck knives and Schrade knives, for the actual DU knives which were offered to it's members in 1996, and that BlackJack did not make a DU knife in 1996. Next I was told BlackJack did win get a contract from DU in 1997 for a Woodsman (An example can be seen on the Woodsman page) which is correct. Lastly I was told that an example was retained by Ducks Unlimited, and until recently it was assumed that this knife was still in the possession of Ducks unlimited. Based on that information I had assumed that the knife shown below which was sold at a Ducks Unlimited auction to one of it's members in 1997. Was the knife they had retained. Since then several examples of have turned up. Leading me to believe that the company won a contract for both 1996 and 1997. Notice that the markings that would normally be on the side shown of this knife are not present. This is due to the fact that the DU folks wanted only their markings on this side of the knife. So the usual BlackJack markings were moved to the other side of this knife which can be seen in a picture below. The art work was and I am sure still is owned by Ducks Unlimited.
photo courtesy of Tom Carey
photo courtesy of Tom Carey
photo courtesy of Tom Carey
photo courtesy of Tom Carey
Here is another TrailGuide with brass fittings and Rosewood colored Dymondwood handle. It is marked as being a limited edition. This was purchased from the estate of a former BlackJack employee who used this knife on a daily basis.
photo courtesy of Tom Carey
photo courtesy of Tom Carey
At this point you have probably noticed that the TrailGuide seems to have been the most popular model when it comes to variations. Here we have a stag handled version with the not so commonly encountered polished aluminum guard.
Next up are these three views of an interesting crown stag example with a nice hand painted butt cap which was added after the knife was made.
Here are two pictures of the rather rare and gorgeous red stag handled variation with another rare feature for a Blackjack a brass butt cap.
There is a bit of a story involved with this next variation. The Damascus bladed TrailGuides were exclusives made for A.G. Russell. A.G. placed an order for 200-250 of these knives. Only 96 were completed by the company before the business failed. After that A.G. ordered enough Damascus billets to fill his orders from Darrel Mier. The knives were actually finished by several different makers. This process reportedly took several years to complete. The source originally used by BlackJack for the Damascus was Fain Edwards. Some of the knives had brass butt caps such as the example shown below and some did not. I am sure there is other differences in these knives since different makers were involved with the project. If anyone has pictures of one they would like to share please email me.
Here is a not so common example of a Damascus bladed TrailGuide. In fact it's the prototype made by custom knife maker and former BlackJack employee Mark Nevling. The Damascus is from custom knife maker Chuck Hawes.
This single grind variation is a rare bird indeed. This same grind was employed on a run of TrailGuide's that was done for the New York Custom Knife Show. It is my guess that no more than 500 TrailGuide's were made with this style of grind.
photo courtesy of Tom Carey
Here we have a typical example of one of the above mentioned knives made for the New York Custom Knife Show. I am not sure how many were made but I understand it was between 50 and 100.
Below is an example of a Chestnut (Dymondwood) handled single grind TrailGuide. According to Mike Stewart former BlackJack CEO this example was made up from one of the left over blade blanks for the New York Knife Show Single Grind TrailGuide. This information was passed on to me from the knifes current owner. Thanks for the info J. B.
photo courtesy of J.R. Fleming
Below are some additional photos of a single grind TrailGuide in Chestnut.
photo courtesy of J. P. Branam
photo courtesy of J. P. Branam
I believe that this next example of the NYC show knife may have been a prototype. Note that there is no serial number and there is a flat brass butt cap on this one as well.
Here is a nice example of TrailGuide with the hard to find Dymar. Previously I had stated the material was reconstituted ivory. The new owner of the knife contacted me about this and sent in new photo's that more clearly show the handle. After seeing these close up pictures (Which can be seen below), it became quite clear that the material is in fact Dymar rather than the reconstituted ivory. I do want to say that there were knives offered with reconstituted ivory. In fact there were about 100 made in that material. I don't know how many were made but I do know there were not many. The bottom pictures show examples from both the new company and the old one. The vintage example is at the top. Note the differences in the logos between the new company and the original.
photo courtesy of J.R. Fleming
photo courtesy of James Branam
photo courtesy of James Branam
photo courtesy of James Branam
Below are a few examples of scrimshawed knives. Most of which was done by scrimshaw artist Craig Sanders. He marks his work generally at the bottom of the work with the name SANZ. If you are interested in having Craig work his magic for you, you can contact email him at sanz7@sbcglobal.net. Collecting these knives is problematic since it is rather easy to take an original knife and have scrimshaw added to it. I know there are many such examples floating around. What I can tell you is that more TrailGuide's had scrimshaw added to them than any other model. If you have a scrimed knife or are considering buying one and want to know if it is original or not feel free to contact me and I will try and help you out. These were sold through the BlackJack factory outlet store for the most part. The knife shown below is part of Craig's Cougar series. It was probably the largest series. There were 75 of these done on the TrailGuide model. Apparently 5 of these were pre production pieces like the example shown below.
photos courtesy of Craig Sanders sanz7@sbcglobal.net
This fine example shown below is a one of and brought $900.00 at auction a few years ago. I am not sure of the current whereabouts of this knife or what it last changed hands for. If the present owner sees this please contact the site. I have some questions regarding this knife.
photo courtesy of Craig Sanders sanz7@sbcglobal.net
This piece Craig calls Barbarella no doubt named after the movie.
photo courtesy of Craig Sanders sanz7@sbcglobal.net
