This knife has quite a story behind it.

The Saint Johnsbury and Lamoille County Railroad was constructed in the 1870's. One nick name for it was "The Saint J & L C" and another was "The Slow, Jerkey and Late Coming". This 96 mile long run of railroad line intercepted traffic from the Maine Central and Canadian Pacific on the east end in St. Johnsbury, and the Central Vermont and Canadian National on the west end in Swanton.

With the Railroads slowly fading into history, The State of Vermont purchased the railroad from Samuel Pinsley in 1973 and then leased it for awhile until it finally was converted into a recreation trail called the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail. When the section of tracks from Joes Pond to Hardwick were being dismantled to make way for the new "Rail Trail", Wilderness Trading & Supply CO was fortunate enough to purchase a few spikes from the contracted salvage company.

The spikes were taken to an old Vermont Blacksmith in Walden named Francis (Frannie) Foster. This guy was the truest example of an old time Vermonter that I know of. Each spike was heated up in the forge and then given a slight twist. This spike would now become the handle for the knife. Next, the blade steel was welded to the spike handle.

From here the Spikes made their trip to Larry Benoit's shop where Larry started the process of grinding and transitioning the spike metal to the blade metal.

                                                      Larry completed that part of the process on all of the spikes but had

                                                      to break away from the project for awhile because it was interfering

                                                                          with customer knife orders coming in.

                                                       Larry never got a chance to continue the project from that point.

                                      On the table to the left of Larry are three spikes that are in mid stage of completion.

Now Shalane is taking over where his Pappy left off, grinding, polishing, handle wrap and a beautiful custom built sheath.

                                                                           And here are the completed Spike Knives

                                                                       Take your choice. Tan or Brown & Tan leather

                                              Each knife has Shalane's initials and the year of manufacture etched on the blade

                                                      and the serial number etched on the polished brass inlay on the butt.

          Prices are no longer valid, please call for current price and availability !!

 To call in by credit card or if you have a question about price and availability, dial   (802)426-4088    10am to 2pm est. and ask for Tim