Loyd McConnell
Skinner
Skinner — ATS-34 · Scrimshaw · Original Sheath
Scrimshaw — Deer & Lone Star
Scalloped Guard · Mirror Polish
With Original Leather Sheath — Loyd McConnell, Odessa
ATS-34 · L.A. McConnell Mark
ATS-34 · Loyd McConnell
Original Sheath — Made by Loyd McConnell, Odessa, Texas
Loyd McConnell started the way a lot of great things start — on borrowed equipment. A Sears 6x48 grinder, borrowed from his father, in Odessa, Texas, 1976. He was already working as a public accountant and running oil-related businesses on the side. The knives were a hobby.
Thirteen years later, the hobby had grown too large to stay a hobby. He went full-time in 1989, and the accounting ledgers gave way to grinding wheels and natural handle stock. Stag. Fossil ivory. Materials that reward patience and punish impatience — which is exactly the kind of maker McConnell is.
He is the bespoken knifemaker for Holland & Holland, Riflemakers to the British Crown — commissioned to produce exclusive designs for one of the oldest and most storied names in the sporting world.
His work is displayed at Orvis and Beretta Galleries in Dallas and New York. He was selected to design the Knife of the Year for Sporting Classics magazine. He holds voting membership in both the American Knifemakers' Guild and the German Knifemakers' Guild, and makes the trip to Munich for the German Guild Show annually.
The Skinner in this collection is McConnell at his most direct — ATS-34 ground to a clean drop-point profile (3⅞″ blade, 8⅝″ overall), scalloped stainless bolster with high mirror polish, mammoth ivory scales carrying a scrimshaw of a stag and Texas Lone Star. The original leather sheath, stamped in Odessa, is the punctuation mark. A West Texas knife from a West Texas maker who somehow ended up on the short list for the British Crown.