You might have guessed the recovery of the stolen Yeaton knife might be the topic of this blog. There are three types of people I cannot abide; a liar, a cheat, and a thief. The Yeaton knife disappeared under suspicious circumstances back in the 1970s. Kelly Yeaton, the brother of Samuel, tried for many years to find the location of the knife and recover it. Many people were engaged and it all came to naught. It finally surfaced for sale when the man in possession of it needed money. If I were a Buddhist I might think that karma brought it to the surface. Good karma for the Yeatons and not so good for the people who have possessed it illegally for all these years. The wheel turns. It galls one to "buy" (at a rather large price) what had been stolen from them but we knew that recovering the knife was a once in a lifetime opportunity and either we jumped at the chance or it would disappear into some collector's safe. After a very quick check with the family I placed a large deposit on the knife to ensure we had locked it in. Then began the task of raising the balance of the funds. The family rallied but it was mostly on the shoulders of Kelly Yeaton's son to pull it off. He did it for love of history, family, and doing what is right. I love that about a man. My part, after the initial communications, was to travel with him to Colorado as a second set of eyes to verify it was indeed the knife. I was also familiar with the seller to ease the uncertainty of the sale. The entire story will be in my book. Ironically, I had written the first part which I called, "A Disturbing Twist," to the Shanghai story. Now as Paul Harvey used to say, I have the rest of the story.

I am still searching for the links in the chain of events that lead from its disappearance in California to its eventual reappearance in Colorado. If you have any information to add to the story I am all ears. I credit all of my sources in my writing unless they prefer anonymity. Photo courtesy of Roy Shadbolt.

The motto: "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi," is translated as: "Thus Passes the Glory of the World." Welcome home the Samuel Yeaton dagger.

Here is another example of damage commonly found on F-S knives. Some guards are accidentally bent by idiots using the knives as throwing knives. Others are purposely bent (usually forward) to lie one's thumb on it. Idiots come in all flavors. This knife is a rather uncommon J. Clarke & Sons in otherwise good condition. I corrected the bent guard by the following method. No warranties expressed or implied!

1. find a piece of steel tubing to fit closely over the blade. You nay have to hammer the tubing to flatten it some. It must be an inch or more longer than the blade.
2. open the jaws of a solidly mounted vise just enough for the handle to fit between them.
   
3. If you have an anvil with a hole large enough to pass the handle through, that will also work.
4. with the arms of the guard resting on the jaws, slide the tubing down over the blade.
5. using a heavy hammer apply careful blows to the end of the tubing, this bends the guard back flat.
6. you could place a couple layers of duct tape to the top surface and faces of the jaws to prevent marring the guard.
7. WARNING: the guard is mild steel and should bend easily, but there is always the possibility of the guard cracking!